Lewis & Short

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circum-dūco, xi, ctum, 3, v. a. (imper. circumduce, Plaut. As. 1, 1, 83; id. Most. 3, 2, 159; id. Mil. 2, 2, 66), to lead or draw around (class.; esp. freq. in milit. lang.; in Cic. perh. only once).

  1. I. Prop.: circumduce exercitum, Plaut. Mil. 2, 2, 66; cf. Liv. 1, 27, 8; 8, 13, 8: miles aliquo circumducitur, Plaut. Truc. 4, 4, 21: quattuor cohortibus longiore itinere circumductis, Caes. B. G. 3, 26: alas ad latus Samnitium, Liv. 10, 29, 9: agmen per invia circa, etc., id. 21, 36, 4: pars devio saltu circumducta, id. 41, 19, 8; cf. id. 36, 24, 8: captos Vitellii exploratores circumductos, ut robora exercitus noscerent, remittendo, Tac. H. 3, 54: aliquem per totam civitatem, Petr. 141.
    Also like the simple verb absol.: praeter castra hostium circumducit, marches around, avoids, Liv. 34, 14, 1: aliquem vicatim, Suet. Calig. 35: per coetus epulantium, id. ib. 32: quosdam per organa hydraulica, id. Ner. 41.
    With two accs.: eho istum, puer, circumduce hasce aedis et conclavia, Plaut. Most. 3, 2, 159: quos Pompeius … omnia sua praesidia circumduxit atque ostentavit, Caes. B. C. 3, 61 Kraner ad loc.; cf. Verg. A. 6, 517 sq.
    And in tmesis: circum in quaestus ducere Asinum, Phaedr. 4, 1, 4.
    1. B. Of things: Casilinum coloniam deduxisti, ut vexillum tolleres, ut aratrum circumduceres (as usu. in founding a new city; v. aratrum), * Cic. Phil. 2, 40, 102; cf.: oppida, quae prius erant circumducta aratro, Varr. L. L. 5, § 143 Müll.: bracchium (v. bracchium), Auct. B. Hisp. 6; Suet. Claud. 20: flumen Dubis, ut circino circumductum, paene totum oppidum cingit, Caes. B. G. 1, 38: utro modo vero id circumductum est (of a round hole), Cels. 8, 3, 16: litteras subicere et circumducere, i. e. when a line is filled, to place the remaining letters of a word below the line, and draw circular marks around them, to indicate that they belong above, Suet. Aug. 87 fin.; cf. Serv. ad Verg. A. 3, 204 and 226: umbra hominis lineis circumducta, i.e. represented by outlines, sketched, Plin. 35, 3, 5, § 15.
  2. II. Trop.
    1. A. In conversat. language, aliquem aliqua re or absol., to deceive, cheat, impose upon (syn.: circumvenio, decipio, fraudo, fallo): aliquem argento, Plaut. Ps. 2, 2, 39; 1, 5, 16: quadrigentis Philippis filius me et Chrusalus circumduxerunt, id. Bacch. 5, 2, 64; cf. id. ib. 2, 3, 77: quā me potes, circumduce, aufer, id. As. 1, 1, 84; id. Poen. 5, 5, 8; 5, 2, 16; id. Ps. 1, 5, 115; Dig. 42, 33, 1 al.
    2. B. Of discourse, to use circumlocution, to prolong: cum sensus unus longiore ambitu circumducitur, Quint. 9, 4, 124; cf. id. 10, 2, 17.
    3. C. In prosody, to speak drawlingly, to drawl out; only in Quint. 11, 3, 172; 12, 10, 33; 1, 5, 23 Spald. and Zumpt.
    4. D. In jurid. Lat., to draw lines around a law, i. e. to cancel, annul, abrogate (cf. cancello, II., and circumscribo, II. D.), Dig. 5, 1, 73; 40, 12, 27; 49, 1, 22.

* circumductum, i, n. [circumduco, II. B.]; in rhet., a period, Quint. 9, 4, 22.