Lewis & Short

rŏta, ae, f. [kindred with Sanscr. ratha, chariot, and Germ. Rad (cf.rotundus), wheel], a wheel.

  1. I. Lit.: pro rotā me uti licet, Plaut. Capt. 2, 3, 9; cf.: vorsutior es quam rota figularis, id. Ep. 3, 2, 35: orbes rotarum, Lucr. 6, 551; Plin. 8, 16, 19, § 52: axes rotarum, id. 16, 43, 84, § 229: radiata, Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 15: aurea curvatura summae rotae, Ov M. 2, 108: aquaria, Cato, R. R. 11, 3: ne currente rotā funis eat retro, while the wheel (in a hoisting machine) hurries forward, Hor. C. 3, 10, 10 et saep.
      1. 2. In partic.
        1. a. A potter’s wheel (cf. supra, figularis): amphora coepit Institui: currente rotā cur urceus exit? Hor. A. P. 22; so, Cumana, Tib. 2, 3, 48: Aristarchus invenit rotam figuli, cujus circuitu vasa formantur, Sen. Ep. 90, 31.
        2. b. A wheel for torture (τροχός, among the Greeks): in rotam beatam vitam non escendere, Cic. Tusc. 5, 9, 24: cervicem circumactu rotae frangere, Sen. Ep. 70, 23; App. M. 3, p. 133; 10, p. 243; Sen. Herc. Oet. 1011.
          Ixion’s wheel, Tib. 1, 3, 74; Verg. G. 4, 484; id. A. 6, 616; Sen. Herc. Fur. 750 et saep.
        3. c. A roller: aliquid subjectis rotis traicere, Front. 1, 5, 7: propellere, Tac. H. 4, 23; Vitr. 10, 13, 2.
    1. B. Poet., transf.
      1. 1. (Pars pro toto.) A car, chariot: si rota defuerit, tu pede carpe viam, Ov.A. A. 2,230; cf. (opp. pedibus) id. M. 1, 448; so Prop. 1, 2, 20; 2, 25 (3, 20), 26; 4 (5), 10, 42: subdiderat rotas, Verg. A. 12, 675; Ov. M. 2, 139; 312; 3, 150.
        Of the span of horses: Cynthia fraternis afflata rotis, Sil. 4, 483.
      2. 2. Of things in the shape of a wheel or disk.
        1. a. The disk of the sun: solis rota, Lucr. 5, 432; 564; cf.: flammea Phoebi, Sen. Herc. Oet. 1022; and simply rota, Enn. ap. Isid. Orig. 18, 36 fin.; Val. Fl. 3, 559.
        2. b. A kind of sea-fish, Plin. 9, 4, 3, § 8; 32, 11, 53, § 144.
  2. II. Trop., a wheel: fortunae rotam pertimescere, i. e. fickleness, inconstancy, Cic. Pis. 10, 22; cf.: versatur celeri Fors levis orbe rotae, Tib. 1, 5, 70; Prop. 2, 8, 8 (10); Tac. Or. 23; Amm. 26, 8, 13.
    Poet.: imparibus vecta Thalia rotis, i. e. in elegiac metre, Ov. A. A. 1, 264; so, disparibus (elegorum) rotis, id. P. 3, 4, 86: jactor, crucior, agitor, stimulor, vorsor in amoris rotā miser, on the rack of love (cf. I. A. 2. b. supra), Plaut. Cist. 2, 1, 4.