meatus

Latin > English (Lewis & Short)

mĕātus: ūs, m. id.,
I a going, passing, motion, course (poet. and post-Aug.).
I Lit.: solis lunaeque meatus, Lucr. 1, 128: caeli, Verg. A. 6, 850: aquilae, flight, Tac. H. 1, 62: spiritus, i. e. the breathing, respiration, Quint. 7, 10, 10: animae, Plin. Ep. 6, 16, 13.—
II Transf., concr., a way, path, passage, Val. Fl. 3, 403: meatum vomiticnibus praeparare, Plin. 19, 5, 26, § 85: spirandi, id. 28, 13, 55, § 197: cur signa meatus Deseruere suos, left their paths, i. e. became darkened, eclipsed, Luc. 1, 664: Danubius in Ponticum sex meatibus erumpit, discharges itself through six channels, Tac. G. 1; cf.: bifido meatu divisus Rhenus, divided into two channels, Claud. B. G. 336. —
   B The avenues of sensation in the body: homo septem meatus habet in capite, duos oculos, etc., Mart. Cap. 7, § 739.