Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

arto (not arcto), āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. [1. artus], to draw or press close together, to compress, contract (not found in Cic.).

  1. I.
    1. A. Lit.: omnia conciliatu artari possunt, * Lucr. 1, 576: libros, Mart. 1, 3, 3; Col. 12, 44, 2: vitis contineri debet vimine, non artari, Plin. 17, 23, 35, § 209: angustias eas artantibus insulis parvis, quae etc., id. 3, 6, 13, § 83.
    2. B. Trop., to contract, straiten, limit, curtail: fortuna humana fingit artatque ut lubet, i. e. in angustias redigit, Plaut. Capt. 2, 2, 54 Lind.; Liv. 45, 56: tempus, to limit, circumscribe, Dig. 42, 1, 2; 38, 9, 1: se, to limit one’s self, to retrench, ib. 1, 11, 2 al.
  2. II. In gen., to finish, conclude, Petr. 85, 4.
    Hence, artātus, a, um, P. a., contracted into a small compass; hence, narrow, close; and of time, short: pontus, Luc. 5, 234: tempus, Vell. 1, 16.