per-mĕo, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a., to go or pass through, to cross, traverse.
- I. Lit.: Euphrates mediam Babylonem permeans, Plin. 5, 26, 21, § 90: Alpheus in eā insulā sub ima maria permeat, id. 31, 5, 30, § 55: in quos (barbaros) saxa et hastae longius permeabant, quam ut contrario sagittarum icto adaequarentur, traversed too much space, i. e. went too far in reaching them, etc., Tac. A. 15, 9: Ister permeat orbem, Luc. 2, 418: dum littera nostra Tot maria ac terras permeat, Ov. P. 4, 11, 16: permeato amne, Amm. 21, 13, 2.
Impers. pass.: iter, quo ab usque Pontico mari in Galliam permeatur, Aur. Vict. Caes. 13.
- B. Transf., to go forward, go on: naviter et sine ullis concessationibus, Col. 11, 1, 16.
- II. Trop., to penetrate, pervade: quod quaedam animalis intellegentia per omnia ea permeet et transeat, Cic. Ac. 2, 37, 119.