Lewis & Short

abs-cēdo, cessi, cessum, 3, v. n. (sync. abscēssem = abscessissem, Sil. 8, 109), to go off or away, to depart.

  1. I. Lit.
    1. A. In gen.: abscede hinc, sis, sycophanta, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 162: meo e conspectu, id. Capt. 2, 3, 74: numquam senator a curiā abscessit aut populus e foro, Liv. 27, 50, 4; so, a corpore (mortui), Tac. A. 1, 7; cf. id. ib. 3, 5: ut abscesserit inde (i. e. e castris) dictator, Liv. 22, 25, 9: illorum navis longe in altum abscesserat, Plaut. Rud. prol. 66.
    2. B. In partic.
      1. 1. Milit. t. t., to march off, to depart, retire: non prius Thebani Spartā abscessissent quam, etc., Nep. Iphicr. 2 fin.: longius ab urbe hostium, Liv. 3, 8, 8; cf.: a moenibus Alexandriae, id. 44, 19, 11.
        Absol.: si urgemus obsessos, si non ante abscedimus quam, etc., Liv. 5, 4, 10; so Nep. Epam. 9.
        Impers.: abscedi ab hoste, Liv. 22, 33, 10; cf. id. 27, 4, 1: nec ante abscessum est quam, etc., id. 29, 2, 16; so, a moenibus abscessum est, id. 45, 11, 7: manibus aequis abscessum, Tac. A. 1, 63.
      2. 2. To disappear, withdraw, be lost from view: cor (est) in extis: jam abscedet, simul ac, etc., will disappear, Civ. Div. 2, 16 fin.
        Poet.: Pallada abscessisse mihi, has withdrawn from me, from my power, Ov. M. 5, 375.
        Of stars, to set, Plin. 2, 17, 14, § 72 al.
      3. 3. Of localities, to retire, recede, retreat: quantum mare abscedebat, retired, Liv. 27, 47 fin.; so in architecture: frontis et laterum abscedentium adumbratio, of the sides in the background, Vitr. 1, 2, 2; so id. 1, 2, 7, praef. 11.
      4. 4. With respect to the result, to retire, to escape: abscedere latere tecto, to escape with a whole skin, Ter. Heaut. 4, 2, 5.
  2. II. Fig., to leave off, retire, desist from, constr. with ab, the simple abl., or absol.: labor ille a vobis cito recedet, benefactum a vobis non abscedet (followed by abibit), Cato ap. Gell. 16, 1 fin.; so, cito ab eo haec ira abscedet, Ter. Hec. 5, 2, 15.
    With abl. only: haec te abscedat suspicio, Plaut. Ep. 2, 2, 100: abscedere irrito incepto, to desist from, Liv. 20, 7, 1.
    Absol.: aegritudo abscesserit, Plaut. Merc. 1, 2, 29; so, somnus, Ov. F. 3, 307: imago, Plin. Ep. 7, 27, 6: ille abscessit (sc. petitione sua), desisted from the action, Tac. A. 2, 34: ne quid abscederet (sc. de hereditate), Suet. Ner. 34; so, semper abscedente usufructu, Dig. 7, 1, 3, § 2.