claudĭco (clōdĭco, Cic. de Or. 2, 61, 249, like Claudius and Clodius, codex and caudex, etc., v. au), āre, v. n. [claudeo; like albico, candico from albeo, candeo], to limp, halt, be lame (class.).
- I. Prop.: Carvilio graviter claudicanti ex vulnere, Cic. de Or. 2, 61, 249; Ov. F. 3, 758; Col. 6, 12, 3; Suet. Aug. 80; Just. 6, 2, 6.
- B. In Lucretius, meton., of other irregular or unbalanced motions, to waver, wabble, halt; of the lame wings of birds, Lucr. 6, 834; of the wavering of balances or scales, id. 4, 515; and of the earth’s axis, id: 6, 1107.
- II. Trop., to halt, waver, to be wanting, incomplete or defective: claudicat ingenium, Lucr. 3, 453: tota res vacillat et claudicat, Cic. N. D, 1, 38, 107: vereri ne tota amicitia quasi claudicare videatur, id. Fin. 1, 20, 69; so id. Brut. 63, 227; Liv. 22, 39, 3 (al. leg. claudo); Col. 4, 2, 1; Just. 6, 2, 5 and 6: ut constare possimus nobismet ipsis nec in ullo officio claudicare, Cic. Off. 1, 33, 119; cf.: in comoediā, claudicamus, Quint. 10, 1, 99.
So of discourse: ne sermo in aequalitate horum omnium sicut pedum claudicet, Quint. 11, 3, 43: si quid in nostrā oratione claudicat, Cic. de Or. 3, 51, 198.
And once of the measure of a verse: claudicat hic versus; haec, inquit, syllaba nutat, Claud. Epigr. 79, 3.