percussio
From LSJ
εἰς τὸν τετρημένον πίθον ἀντλεῖν → run water into a punctured pitcher, to the perforated jar bale water, labour in vain, labor in vain
Latin > English (Lewis & Short)
percussĭo: ōnis, f. id.,
I a beating, striking (class.).
I Lit.: capitis percussiones, beatings on the head, Cic. Tusc. 3, 26, 62: digitorum, a snapping, id. Off. 3, 19, 75. —
II Transf., in music and rhetoric, a beating time; hence, concr., time: percussiones numerorum, Cic. de Or. 3, 47, 182: percussionum modi, id. Or. 58, 198; Quint. 9, 4, 51; 11, 3, 108 al.
