ab-rĭpĭo, pui, eptum, 3, v. a. [rapio], to take away by violence, to drag away, to tear off or away (stronger than its synn. abduco, abigo, abstraho).
- I. Lit.
- A. In gen.: abripite hunc intro actutum inter manus, hurry him away, Plaut. Most. 2, 1, 38: puella ex Atticā hinc abrepta, stolen, Ter. Eun. 1, 2, 30; cf.: abreptam ex eo loco virginem secum asportāsse, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 49, § 107: de convivio in vincla atque in tenebras, id. ib. 2, 4, 10, § 24: ab complexu alicujus, Liv. 3, 57, 3: milites vi fluminis abrepti, Caes. B. C. 1, 64; cf. Mel. 3, 5, 8; Plin. 2, 67, 67, § 170; Verg. A. 1, 108: aliquem ad quaestionem, Cic. Clu. 33, 89; cf.: aliquem ad humanum exitum, id. Rep. 1, 16 fin.; with acc. only: Cererem, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 50, § 111: cives, Nep. Milt. 4, 2: aliquid, id. Dat. 4, 2: abripere se, to run, scamper away: ita abripuit repente sese subito, Plaut. Mil. 2, 2, 21; so id. Curc. 5, 1, 8.
- B. Transf., of property, to dissipate, squander: quod ille compersit miser, id illa univorsum abripiet, Ter. Phorm. 1, 1, 11.
- II. Trop., to carry off, remove, detach: repente te quasi quidam aestus ingenii tui procul a terrā abripuit atque in altum … abstraxit, Cic. de Or. 3, 36, 145: voluntate omnes tecum fuerunt; tempestate abreptus est unus, id. Lig. 12, 34 (the figure taken from those driven away in a storm at sea); so, abreptus amore caedum, Sil. 5, 229; cf. id. 6, 332: (filium) etiam si natura a parentis similitudine abriperet, i.e. made unlike him, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 12.