† cĕrastes, ae or is, m., = κεράστης (horned).
- I. A horned serpent, the cerastes: Coluber cerastes, Linn.; Plin. 8, 23, 35, § 85; 11, 37, 45, § 126; Luc. 9, 716; Prop. 3 (4), 22, 27; Cels. 5, 27, 7; as an attrib. of the hair of the Furies, Stat. Th. 1, 103; 11, 65; Claud. ap. Rufin. 1, 96; id. Rapt. Pros. 2, 346.
- II. A kind of horned worm injurious to trees, Plin. 16, 41, 80, § 220; 17, 24, 37, § 221.
- III. As nom. propr.: Cĕrastae, ārum, m., acc. to the fable, a horned people in Cyprus, changed by Venus into bullocks, Ov. M. 10, 222 sq.