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.

bōs, bŏvis (prob. orig. form of nom. bŏ-vis, like bovare for boare, Petr. 62, 13; cf. Varr L. L. 8, § 74 Müll., where, acc. to Cod. B., the read. should be: nunc in consuetudine aliter dicere pro Jovis Juppiter, pro Bovis Bos, pro Strus Strues.
Hence, gen. plur. bŏvĕrum, Cato, R. R. 62 Schneid. N. cr.; cf. Varr. L. L. l. l.: alios dicere Boum greges, alios Boverum; v. Juppiter, nux, rex, sus, and Schneid. Gr. 2, p. 171.
Regular gen. boum very freq.; uncontracted form bovum, Cic. Rep. 2, 9, 16 Halm; Cod. Sang. Colum. 6, 17, 6; 6, 37, 11, and Cod. Reg. ib. 6, 38, 4; cf. Prisc. p. 773 P.
Dat. plur. contr. bōbus, Hor. C. 3, 6, 43; id. C. S. 49; id. Epod. 2, 3; Cic. N. D. 2, 63, 159, twice; cf. Prisc. p. 773 sq. P.; but more freq. and class. būbus, even Cato, R. R. 6, 3; 54, 1; 54, 60; 54, 70; 54, 73; once bŭbŭs, Aus. Epigr. 62, 2; cf. on the other hand, Serv. ad Verg. E. 8, 86.
Exs. of the uncontracted form bovibus are entirely. wanting; v. Neue, Formenl. 1, 280 sqq.; 1, 289), comm.; generally masc. in prose (hence, femina bos, Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 17; Liv. 25, 12, 13; 27, 37, 11; Col. 6, 24, 3; Plin. 8, 46, 71, § 186; Tac. G. 40) [from the root bo-, prop. the roaring, kindr. with Gr. βοῦς, βῶς; Sanscr. gō, gu].

  1. I. An ox, a bull, a cow; described by Plin. 8, 45, 70, § 176 sq.; Cato, R. R. 70 sq.; Varr. R. R. 1, 20, 1; 2, 1, 12 sq.; 2, 5, 7.
    In gen.: quia boves bini hic sunt in crumenā, i. e. the price of them, Plaut. Pers. 2, 5, 16: Olympiae per stadium ingressus esse Milo dicitur, cum umeris sustineret bovem, Cic. Sen. 10, 33: consimili ratione venit bubus quoque saepe Pestilitas, Lucr. 6, 1131: quae cura boum, qui cultus habendo Sit pecori, Verg. G. 1, 3: bos est enectus arando, Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 87; Verg. G. 3, 50 sq.; Col. lib. 6; Pall. Mart. 11, 1 sq.
    In fem.: actae boves, Liv. 1, 7, 6: bove eximiā captā de grege, id. 1, 7, 12; Ov. M. 8, 873; so, torva, Verg. G. 3, 52: cruda, Hor. Epod. 8, 6: intactae, id. ib. 9, 22: formosa, Ov. M. 1, 612: incustoditae, id. ib. 2, 684: vidisti si quas Boves, id. ib. 2, 700: forda, fecunda, id. F. 4, 630 and 631 al.
    Prov.: bovi clitellas imponere, to put a pack-saddle upon an ox, i. e. to assign one a duty for which he is not qualified, old Poët. ap. Cic. Att. 5, 15, 3 (in the form non nostrum onus: bos clitellas (sc. portabat), Quint. 5, 11, 21 Spald.); cf.: optat ephippia bos, piger optat arare caballus, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 43; and Amm. 16, 5, 10.
    Humorously, for a whip cut from neat’s leather, a raw hide: ubi vivos homines mortui incursant boves, Plaut. As. 1, 1, 20: bos Lucas, the elephant; v. Lucani, D.
  2. II. A kind of sea-fish of the genus of the turbot, Plin. 9, 24, 40, § 78; Ov. Hal. 94; cf. Plin. 32, 11, 54, § 152.