Lewis & Short

dēbĭlĭto, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. [debilis], to lame, cripple, maim; to debilitate, unnerve, disable, weaken (freq. and class.).

  1. I. Lit.
        1. a. Of personal objects: gladiatores, qui debilitati fuerint, Gai. Inst. 3, § 146: contusi ac debilitati inter saxa rupesque, Liv. 21, 40: corpore debilitantur (saucii), Cic. Caecin. 15, 42: casu debilitatus, Tac. A. 4, 63: lapsu debilitatus, * Suet. Aug. 43 (cf. shortly after, qui et ipse crus fregerat): qui filium debilitavit, ut inhabilis militiae sit, Dig. 49, 16, 4, § 12; Ov. M. 13, 112: natantium manus lacerabant, donec debilitati, etc., Curt. 4, 3, 5.
        2. b. Of inanimate objects: membra, quae debilitavit lapidibus, fustibus, Cic. Fl. 30, 73: vim ferro ac viribus, id. Marc. 3: lingua Debilitata malis, * Lucr. 6, 1150: opes adversariorum debilitatae, Nep. Ages. 5, 2: cibum etiam saepe subtrahunt, ut fame debilitetur eculeorum nimis effrenata vis, Cic. Hortens. Frag. 78 Bait. (Non., p. 105, 7).
          Poet.: (hiems) quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum, i. e. breaks its waves ( = collidit), Hor. Od. 1, 11, 5.
  2. II. Trop.
        1. a. Of personal objects: quo metu debilitaret nostros, Varr. ap. Non. 163, 30: simulac me fractum ac debilitatum metu viderit, Cic. de Or. 1, 26, 121; cf.: hunc cum afflictum, debilitatum, maerentem, viderem, id. ib. 2, 47, 195: recitatis literis debilitatus atque abjectus, conscientia convictus, repente conticuit, disheartened, id. Cat. 3, 5, 10: victi debilitantur animosque demittunt, id. Fin. 5, 15, 42: sin aestivorum timor te debilitat, id. Fam. 7, 14: quosdam continet metus, quosdam debilitat, Quint. 1, 3, 6 et saep.: debilitati a jure cognoscendo, i. e. dispirited, discouraged ( = deterriti), Cic. de Or. 2, 33, 142 (cf. shortly before, a discendo deterrent).
        2. b. Of inanimate objects: membrum reip. fractum debilitatumque, Cic. Fam. 5, 13, 3: animos, id. Lael. 7; so Nep. Dat. 6: animum luctu, metu, Cic. Planc. 42, 103: nimis effrenatam vim fame, id. fragm. ap. Non. 105, 11; cf.: vires animi (senectus), * Verg. A. 9, 611: fortitudinem, magnitudinem animi, patientiam (dolor), Cic. Tusc. 5, 27, 76: veritatem multis incommodis, id. Quint. 1, 4: spem meam, id. Att. 5, 4 et saep.: versus, id. de Or. 3, 50: debilitatur ac frangitur eloquentia, Tac. Or. 39.