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.

baltĕus, i, m., more rare baltĕum, i, n. (in plur. baltea was generally used in the poets metri gr.; and in ante-class. prose balteum, e. g. Varr. L. L. 5, § 116 Müll.; Non. p. 194, 21; Charis. p. 59 P.) [acc. to Varr. ap. Charis. 1. 1. a Tuscan word; but cf. O. H. Germ. balz; Engl. belt] (not in Cic.).

  1. I. Lit., a girdle, belt; esp. a swordbelt, or the band passing over the shoulder (cf. Quint. 11, 3, 140; Dict. of Antiq.): baltea, Att. ap. Non. p. 194, 21; Varr. ib.: infelix umero cum apparuit alto Balteus, Verg. A. 12, 942: lato quam circumplectitur auro Balteus, id. ib. 5, 313 Serv.; 12, 274: verutum in balteo defigitur, Caes. B. G. 5, 44: aurata baltea illis erant, Liv. H. ap. Non. p. 194, 21: gregarius miles viatica sua et balteos phalerasque loco pecuniae tradebant, Tac. H. 1, 57 fin.; Vulg. Exod. 28, 39: regum, ib. Job, 12, 18.
    1. B. Poet., like ζωστήρ, a woman’s girdle; so of that of Amazonian queens at Thermodon, Ov. M. 9, 189; the girdle of the wife of Cato, Luc. 2, 362; of Venus, Mart. 14, 207.
    2. C. The girdle of the Jewish high-priest, Vulg. Exod. 28, 4.
    3. D. The girdle or belly-band of a horse, = cingula, Claud. Epigr. 21, 2; App. M. 10, p. 247, 37.
  2. II. Transf., that which surrounds like a girdle, a border, rim, edge, circle.
    1. A. The belt of the heavens, the zodiac: stellatus balteus, Manil. 1, 677; 3, 334.
    2. B. The edge, the crust of a cake, Cato, R. R. 76, 3, and 78.
    3. C. The bark of the willow, Plin. 16, 37, 68, § 174.
    4. D. = praecinctio, and Gr. διάξωμα, the vacant space between the seats in the amphitheatre, Calp. Ecl. 4, 47; Tert. Spect. 3.
    5. E. Baltei pulvinorum, in architecture, the broad bands by which the cushions upon Ionic capitals are, as it were, held together, Vitr. 3, 5, 7.
  3. F. A strapping, blow with a belt: quoties rumoribus ulciscantur Baltea, Juv. 9, 112.