sēmĭ-vĭr, vĭri, m. adj., a half-man, i. q. semihomo and semimas (not anteAug.).
- I. Lit.
- A. Half man and half beast, e. g. the Centaur Chiron. Ov. F. 5, 380; the Minotaur, id. A. A. 2, 24 (cf. semibos): Nessus, id. H. 9, 141.
- B. An hermaphrodite, Ov. M. 4, 386; Plin. 11, 49, 110, § 263.
- II. Transf., emasculated.
- A. Lit., of a priest of Cybele (cf. semimas), Juv. 6, 513: semiviri chori, Sil. 17, 20: formosum adulescentem semivirum reddidit, Lact. 1, 17, 7.
- B. Trop., unmanly, womanish, effeminate: et nunc ille Paris cum semiviro comitatu, Verg. A. 4, 215: Phryx, id. ib. 12, 99; Lact. 1, 10, 9; Stat. Achill. 2, 363.
So esp. of debauchees: qui tam atrocem caedem pertinere ad illos semiviros crederent (for which, just before: molles and obsceni viri), Liv. 33, 28, 7: impure ac semivir, Luc. 8, 552.