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.

1. erro, āvi, ātum, 1, v. n. and a. [root er-, to go; desiderative forms, ἔρχομαι (ἐρσκ-); and Lat. (ers-o) erro, to seek to reach; hence, to wander; cf. Germ. irren; Engl. err, etc., v. Curt. Gr. Etym. p. 546 sq.].

  1. I. Neutr.
    1. A. In gen.
      1. 1. Prop., to wander, to wander or stray about, to wander up and down, to rove (freq. and class.; cf. vagor, palor): propter te errans patria careo, Ter. Heaut. 2, 3, 16; cf.: cum vagus et exsul erraret, Cic. Clu. 62, 175: ignari hominumque locorumque Erramus vento huc et vastis fluctibus acti, Verg. A. 1, 333; cf. id. ib. 1, 32; 3, 200; Ov. M. 3, 175; id. F. 2, 335 et saep.: circum villulas nostras, Cic. Att. 8, 9, 3: pios per lucos, Hor. C. 3, 4, 7: inter audaces lupus errat agnos, id. ib. 3, 18, 13; cf. of beasts, id. S. 1, 8, 35; id. Epod. 2, 12; Verg. E. 1, 9; 2, 21; 6, 40; id. G. 4, 11 et saep.
        Pass. impers.: male tum Libyae solis erratur in agris, Verg. G. 3, 249.
        Prov.: in media luce errare, Sen. Ben. 5, 6, 3.
        1. b. Transf., of inanimate things: (stellae) quae errantes et quasi vagae nominantur, Cic. Rep. 1, 14; so of the planets, id. N. D. 2, 20; 3, 20; id. Tusc. 1, 25, 62; Plin. 2, 6, 4, § 12; Vulg. Jud. 13; cf. of the motion of the stars in gen., Hor. Ep. 1, 12, 17: Cocytus errans flumine languido, id. C. 2, 14, 18; cf. Verg. G. 3, 14: errantesque per altum Cyaneae, Val. Fl. 4, 561: hic lintres errare videres, Ov. F. 2, 391: vidi ad frontem sparsos errare capillos, i. e. flying about, Prop. 2, 1, 7; cf. id. 2, 22, 9: errantia lumina, i. e. moving fitfully about, Prop. 3, 14, 27 (4, 13, 27 M.); cf. Stat. Th. 10, 150: pulmonibus errat Ignis edax, i. e. spreads, runs about, Ov. M. 9, 201 et saep.
      2. 2. Trop., to wander, stray at random: ne vagari et errare cogatur oratio, Cic. de Or., 48, 209; cf.: erraus et vaga sententia (opp. stabilis certaque), id. N. D. 2, 1, 2: eo fit, ut errem et vager latius, id. Ac. 2, 20, 66: ut ingredi libere, non ut licenter videatur errare, id. Or. 23, 77: errans opinio (opp. stabilis conscientia), id. Fin. 2, 22, 71: dubiis affectibus errat, Ov. M. 8, 473: ne tuus erret honos, be in doubt, uncertain, id. F. 1, 468; cf. id. ib. 3, 543.
        Poet., with a rel.-clause: erro, quam insistas viam, I am uncertain, in doubt, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 197; cf.: inter recens et vetus sacramentum, i. e. to hesitate, vacillate, Tac. H. 4, 58.
    2. B. In partic., to miss the right way, to lose one’s self, go astray (in the literal sense rarely, but in the trop. freq. and class.).
      1. 1. Lit.: homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam, Enn. ap. Cic. Off. 1, 16, 51: errare viā, Verg. A. 2, 739: maledictus qui errare facit caecum in itinere, Vulg. Deut. 27, 18.
      2. 2. Trop., to wander from the truth, to err, mistake: avius errat Saepe animus, Lucr. 3, 463; cf. id. 2, 740: totā erras viā, Ter. Eun. 2, 2, 14; cf.: in eo non tu quidem totà re, sed temporibus errasti, Cic. Phil. 2, 9 fin.: longe, Ter. Ad. 1, 1, 40; cf. procul, Sall. J. 85, 38 Kritz. N. cr.: errant probe, Plaut. Am. 3, 3, 20: vehementer, Cic. Ac. 2, 32, 103: valde, id. de Or. 2, 19, 83 et saep.: errare malo cum Platone quam cum istis vera sentire, Cic. Tusc. 1, 17, 39; cf. id. Balb. 28, 64: erras, si id credis, Ter. Heaut. 1, 1, 53; so with si, id. Hec. 4, 4, 60; Caes. B. G. 5, 41, 5; 7, 29, 2 et saep.: de nostris verbis errat, Ter. Heaut. 2, 3, 22: in aliqua re, Quint. 6, 3, 112; 10, 2, 21; 11, 1, 81 al.: in alteram partem, id. 10, 1, 26; cf.: in alienos fetus, Liv. 31, 12, 8.
        Less freq. with acc. of a neutr. pronoun: mone, quaeso, si quid erro, Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 30; so with quid, Ter. And. 3, 2, 18; Quint. 2, 5, 16; 2, 3, 11; 2, 6, 6: hoc, Ter. Phorm. 5, 3, 21.
        Poet. also with the acc. of a noun: errabant tempora, i. e. in chronology, Ov. F. 3, 155.
        Pass. impers.: si fuit errandum, Ov. H. 7, 109: si nihil esset erratum, Quint. 6, 5, 7: si erratur in nomine, Cic. Fin. 4, 20 fin.; cf.: tutius circa priores erratur, Quint. 2, 5, 26: uno verbo esse erratum, id. 7, 3, 17.
        Sometimes, in a palliative manner, of moral error, to err through mistake: pariter te errantem et illum sceleratissimum persequi, Sall. J. 102, 5; cf. id. ib. 104, 4.
        Hence,
        1. b. errātum, i, n., an error, mistake, fault: illud de Flavio et fastis, si secus est, commune erratum est, Cic. Att. 6, 1, 18; cf. id. ib. 13, 44 fin.: cujus errato nulla venia, recte facto exigua laus proponitur, id. Agr. 2, 2, 5; id. Fam. 5, 20, 8: nullum ob totius vitae non dicam vitium, sed erratum, id. Clu. 48; cf. id. Lig. 1; id. Sull. 23; and in plur., id. Fam. 16, 21, 2; Sall. J. 102, 10; Ov. Pont. 2, 3, 66.
  2. II. Act. in Aug. poets (only in part. perf.), to wander over or through: immensum est erratas dicere terras, Ov. F. 4, 573: ager, id. ib. 3, 655: orbis, Val. Fl. 4, 447: litora, Verg. A. 3, 690.

2. erro, ōnis, m. [1. erro], a wanderer, vagabond, vagrant, Tib. 2, 6, 6; Ov. H. 15, 53.
Used esp. of slaves: ut errones aliquem cujus dicantur invenient, Plin. Ep. 2, 10, 5; Edict. Aedil. ap. Gell. 4, 2, 1; Dig. 21, 1, 17, § 14; 49, 16, 4 fin.; Hor. S. 2, 7, 113.
Of the queen-bee: dux, Col. 9, 10 fin.
Of the planets, Nigid. ap. Gell. 3, 10, 2; 14, 1, 11.
Of vagabond soldiers: nec nostros servire sinant errorribus agros, Verg. Dir. 70 Rib.