Lewis & Short

dē-lābor, lapsus, 3, v. dep. n., to fall, sink, slip down (freq. and class.).

  1. I. Lit.: signum, de caelo delapsum, Cic. Phil. 11, 10, 24: de manibus audacissimorum civium delapsa arma, id. Off. 1, 22, 77; Caes. B. C. 2, 11: sinus ab humero, Quint. 11, 3, 144: ex utraque parte (aqua), Cic. de Or. 3, 46, 180: ex equo, Liv. 37, 34 fin.: ab aethere, to glide down, poet. for to fly down, sc. to the earth, Ov. M. 1, 608; cf.: aetheriis ab astris, Verg. A. 5, 838: caelo, id. ib. 5, 722: summo Olympo, Ov. M. 1, 212: per auras, id. ib. 3, 101; also absol.: aquila leniter delapsa, Suet. Aug. 94: curru delapsus eodem, Verg. A. 10, 596; cf. Ov. M. 15, 685: serta capiti delapsa, Verg. E. 6, 16: in terram delabi, Lucr. 6, 838: in scrobes, Caes. B. G. 7, 82: de caelo in provinciam, Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 2: in mare (flumen), Hor. Od. 3, 29, 35: sensit medios delapsus in hostes, Verg. A. 2, 377: te aequoream Lemnon, Val. Fl. 2, 127: voce delapsa a magnifica gloria, Vulg. 2 Petr. 1, 17.
  2. II. Trop. (esp. freq. in Cic.), to come down, sink, descend; and with reference to the term. ad quem, to slide or fall into: jam a sapientium familiaritatibus ad vulgares amicitias oratio nostra delabitur, Cic. Lael. 21; cf. id. Cael. 7, 15; id. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 6, § 18; and: aut a minoribus ad majora ascendimus, aut a majoribus ad minora delabimur, id. Part. 4, 12: in idem genus morbi delapsa, Cic. Att. 7, 5; cf.: in hoc vitium scurrile, id. de Or. 2, 60, 246: in amorem libertae, Tac. A. 13, 12: in ambitionem, id. ib. 3, 63 et saep.: cujus in similitudinem proclivi cursu delabitur, Cic. Rep. 1, 28: in istum sermonem, id. de Or. 1, 21, 96: in eas difficultates, ut, etc., id. Fat. 17; cf.: eo, ut, etc., id. Ac. 2, 18, 59 al.: ad aequitatem et ad rerum naturam, id. Fam. 6, 10, 5: ad impatientiam, Tac. A. 15, 63: ad inopiam, id. ib. 2, 38 fin.
    Of sounds, to descend, be derived: atque etiam illa sunt ab his delapsa plura genera (vocum), Cic. de Or. 3, 57, 216.
    In epistolary style: eo magis delabor ad Clodiam, I incline to Clodia (i. e. to purchase her gardens), Cic. Att. 12, 47, 1.