Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

denso, āvi, ātum, 1, and (less freq.) denseo, no perf., ētum, 2 (cf. Prisc. p. 837 P.; Charis. p. 233 ib. The MSS. often confound the two forms; densare appears to be critically certain in Liv. and Quint.; densere act. only denset, Verg. A. 11, 650; imp. densete, id. ib. 12, 264: densebant, Lucr. 5, 491: denserent, Tac. A. 2, 14; also active forms, Apul. Mund. p. 61, 13; Prud. Cath. 5, 53 al.; Sil. 4, 159; gerund, densendo, Lucr. 6, 482; pass. inf. parag. denserier, id. 1, 395; 647: densetur, Ov. M. 14, 369 al.: densentur, Hor. Od. 1, 28, 19; Verg. A. 7, 794, and other forms in Verg.; cf. Wagner, Verg. G. 1, 248.
See also addenso and condenso), v. a., to make thick, to press together, thicken (not in Cic. and Caes.).

  1. I. Lit.: Juppiter uvidus austris Densat, erant quae rara modo, et, quae densa, relaxat, Verg. G. 1, 419 (paraphrased: densatus et laxatus aer, Quint. 5, 9, 16); cf.: rarum pectine denset opus, Ov. F. 3, 820; Lucr. 1, 395: ignem, id. 1, 647; 656: omnia, id. 1, 662: agmina, Verg. A. 7, 794; cf. catervas, id. ib. 12, 264: ordines, Liv. 33, 8 fin.: scutis super capita densatis, Liv. 44, 9: funera, * Hor. Od. 1, 28, 19: glomerata corpus in unum densatur, Ov. M. 13, 605; cf.: (nubes) largos in imbres, Luc. 4, 76; Plin. 11, 41, 96, § 239: obtenta densantur nocte tenebrae, Verg. G. 1, 246; cf. Ov. M. 14, 369: hastilia, i. e. hurls thickly, Verg. A. 11, 650; cf. ictus, Tac. A. 2, 14: super acervum petrarum radices ejus densabuntur, Vulg. Job 8, 17.
    Absol.: (aestus) quasi densendo subtexit caerula nimbis, Lucr. 6, 482.
  2. II. Trop. of speech, to condense: instandum quibusdam in partibus et densanda oratio, Quint. 11, 3, 164: figuras, id. 9, 3, 101.