Lewis & Short

pŭer, ĕri (old voc. puere, Plaut. As. 2, 3, 2; 5, 2, 42; id. Most. 4, 2, 32 et saep.; Caecil. and Afran. ap. Prisc. p. 697 P.;

  1. I. gen. plur. puerūm, Plaut. Truc. 4, 2, 50), m. (v. infra) [root pu-, to beget; v. pudes; and cf. pupa, putus], orig. a child, whether boy or girl: pueri appellatione etiam puella significatur, Dig. 50, 16, 163.
    Thus, as fem.: sancta puer Saturni filia, regina, Liv. And. ap. Prisc. p. 697 P.: prima incedit Cereris Proserpina puer, i.e. daughter of Ceres, Naev. ib. p. 697 P.: mea puer, mea puer, Poët. ap. Charis. p. 64 P.; Ael. Stil. and As. ib. p. 64 P.
    Hence, freq. in the plur. pueri, children, in gen., Plaut. Poen. prol. 28; 30: infantium puerorum incunabula, Cic. Rosc. Am. 53, 153: cinis eorum pueros tarde dentientes adjuvat cum melle, Plin. 30, 3, 8, § 22; Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 7; id. C. 4, 9, 24.
  2. II. In partic.
      1. 1. A male child, a boy, lad, young man (strictly till the seventeenth year, but freq. applied to those who are much older): puero isti date mammam, Plaut. Truc. 2, 5, 1: aliquam puero nutricem para, Ter. Hec. 4, 4, 104; 5, 2, 4: homini ilico lacrimae cadunt Quasi puero, id. Ad. 4, 1, 21: quo portas puerum? id. And. 4, 3, 7: nescire quid antea quam natus sis, acciderit, id est semper esse puerum, Cic. Or. 34, 120; Ov. P. 4, 12, 20: laudator temporis acti Se puero, when he was a boy, Hor. A. P. 173; cf.: foeminae praetextatique pueri et puellae, Suet. Claud. 35.
        A puero, and with plur. verb, a pueris (cf. Gr. ἐκ παιδός, ἐκ παίδων), from a boy, boyhood, or childhood (cf. ab): doctum hominem cognovi, idque a puero, Cic. Fam. 13, 16, 4; id. Ac. 2, 3, 8: diligentiā matris a puero doctus, id. Brut. 27, 104; Hor S. 1, 4, 97: ad eas artes, quibus a pueris dediti fuimus, Cic. de Or. 1, 1, 2.
        In like manner: ut primum ex pueris excessit Archias, as soon as he ceased to be a child, Cic. Arch. 3, 4.
      2. 2. A grown-up youth, young man, Cic. Fam. 2, 1, 2: puer egregius praesidium sibi primum et nobis, deinde summae rei publicae comparavit, of Octavian at the age of nineteen, id. ib. 12, 25, 4 (cf. Vell. 2, 61, 1; Tac. A. 13, 6); cf. of the same: nomen clarissimi adulescentis vel pueri potius, Cic. Phil. 4, 1, 3; of Scipio Africanus, at the age of twenty, Sil. 15, 33; 44 (coupled with juvenis, id. 15, 10 and 18); of Pallas, in military command, Verg. A. 11, 42.
      3. 3. An unmarried man, a bachelor, Ov. F. 4, 226.
      4. 4. As a pet name, or in familiar address, boy, fellow, Cat. 12, 9; Ter. Ad. 5, 8, 17.
    1. B. Transf.
      1. 1. A little son, a son (poet.), Plaut. Am. 5, 1, 72: Ascanius puer, Verg. A. 2, 598: tuque (Venus) puerque tuus (Cupido), id. ib. 4, 94; cf. Hor. C. 1, 32, 10: Latonae puer, id. ib. 4, 6, 37: Semeles puer, id. ib. 1, 19, 2: deorum pueri, id. A. P. 83; 185.
      2. 2. A boy for attendance, a servant, slave: cedo aquam manibus, puer, Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 150; Cic. Rosc. Am. 28, 77: Persicos odi, puer, apparatus, Hor. C. 1, 38, 1; 2, 11, 18; 4, 11, 10: hic vivum mihi cespitem ponite, pueri, id. ib. 1, 19, 14: cena ministratur pueris tribus, id. S. 1, 6, 116: tum pueri nautis, pueris convicia nautae Ingerere, id. ib. 1, 5, 11: regii, royal pages, Liv. 45, 6; Curt. 5, 2, 13: litteratissimi, Nep. Att. 13, 3; Juv. 11, 59; Dig. 50, 16, 204.
      3. * 3. As adj., youthful: puera facies, Paul. Nol. Carm. 25, 217.