dē-pĕrĕo, ii (fut. deperiet for -ibit, Vulg. Eccl. 31, 7), 4, v. n., to go to ruin, perish, die; to be lost, undone.
- I. In gen. (class.): neque adaugescit quicquam neque deperit inde (sc. de materia), Lucr. 2, 296: tempestate naves, Caes. B. G. 5, 23: perexigua pars illius exercitus superest, magna pars deperiit, id. B. C. 3, 87; cf. id. B. G. 7, 31, 4: si servus deperisset, had been lost (by death or flight), Cic. Top. 3, 15: ut scida ne qua depereat, id. Att. 1, 20 fin.: qui deperiit minor uno mense vel anno, has died, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 40 et saep.: (auro) rerum uni nihil igne deperit, Plin. 33, 3, 19, § 59: decor vultus ejus deperiit, faded, Vulg. Jacob. 1, 11.
- II. In partic., to be desperately in love with, dying with love for a person (not in Cic., neither in Verg., Hor., nor Ovid, but freq. in Plaut.).
Constr.: aliquem (amore), more rarely alicujus amore, in aliquo; and absol.: ut hic te efflictim deperit, Plaut. Am. 1, 3, 19: aliquam (with deamare), id. Ep. 2, 2, 35: aliquam, id. Cas. 1, 1, 19; id. Bac. 3, 3, 66 et saep.; Ter. Heaut. 3, 2, 14; Catull. 100, 2: amore aliquam deperire, Plaut. Cist. 1, 3, 43; cf.: illum deperit impotente amore, Catull. 35, 12: amore mulierculae, Liv. 27, 15; cf.: amore sui, Suet. Vesp. 22: cum laceratum corpus, in quo deperibat, intueretur, Curt. 8, 6, 8.
Absol.: rogas? deperit, Plaut. Ep. 1, 1, 62.