A / āēr
#544

āēr

(in Enn. once
the air; the lower atmosphere; aether
fem., Gell. 13, 20, 14, as also ἀήρ in Gr., in the earliest per, was fem., Gr. gen. aëros, Stat. Th. 2, 693; Gr. acc. aëra, Cic., Sen., Plin.; pure Lat. form, āĕrem, Varr. L. L. 5, 10, 65; Cato ap. Serv ad Verg. A. 10, 184; Plin. 18, 1, 1, § 3; plur nom. and acc. āĕres, Vitr. 11; later āĕra, Ven. Fort. Carm 9, 1, 141, dat. āĕribus, Lucr. 4, 289; 5, 643), = ἀηρ, the air, properly the lower atmosphere (in distinction from aether, the upper pure air): istic est is Juppiter quem dico, quem Graeci vocant Aërem, qui ventus est et nubes, imber postea, Atque ex imbre frigus, ventus post fit, aër denuo, Enn. ap. Varr L. L. 5, § 65 Müll. (Epicharm. v. 9 Vahl.,: terra circumfusa undique est hac animall spirabilique naturā, cui nomen est aër, Graecum illud quidem, sed perceptum jam tamen usu a nostris, tritum est enim pro Latino, Cic. N. D. 2, 36, 91: itaque aër et ignis et aqua et terra primae sunt, id. Ac. 1, 7, 26: Anaximenes aëra Deum statuit, id. N. D. 1, 10: aërem in perniciem vertere, Plin. 18, 1, 1, § 3 al.—Also in plur.: aëribus binis, Lucr 4, 291: aëres locorum salubres aut pestilentes, Vitr 1, 1 fin.
by extension
the airy summit; the highest point poetic
Poet.: aër summus arboris, the airy summit, for the highest point, Verg. G. 2, 123; cf. Juv. 6, 99.—
a cloud; mist poetic
Also poet. for a cloud, vapor, mist: Venus obscuro gradientes aëre sepsit, Verg. A. 1, 411: aëre septus, Val Fl. 5,401—
the weather
With limiting adj. = the weather: crassus, Cic. Ac. 2, 25, 81. fusus et extenuatus, id. N. D. 2, 39 purus et tenuis, id. ib. 2, 16 temperatus, id. Div 2, 42
a weed among grain; darnel; tare; cockle
aera (dissyl.), ae, f., = αἰρα, a weed among grain; darnel, tare, or cockle, Lolium temulentum, Linn.; Plin. 18, 17, 44, § 156.