Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One of a body of ten Roman magistrates, especially a member of one of two such bodies appointed in 451 and 450 B.C. to draw up a code of laws.
- n. One of an authoritative body of ten.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of the ten men, or decemviri, the title of four differently constituted bodies in ancient Rome. A body of magistrates elected in 451 b. c. for one year to prepare a system of written laws (decemviri legibus scribendis), with absolute powers of government, and succeeded by another for a second year, who ruled tyrannically under their leader Appius Claudius, and aimed to perpetuate their power, but were overthrown in 449. The decemvirs of the first year completed ten, and those of the second year the remaining two, of the celebrated twelve tables, forming both a political constitution and a legal code.
- n. By extension, one of any official body of men, ten in number. as the old Council of Ten in Venice.
Wiktionary
- n. One of a body of ten magistrates in ancient Rome.
- n. A member of any body of ten men in authority.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One of a body of ten magistrates in ancient Rome.
- n. A member of any body of ten men in authority.
Etymologies
- Latin decem, "ten", and vir, "man". (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin, sing. of decemvirī, commission of ten men : decem, ten; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots + virī, pl. of vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the latter was an austere and wise man: and therefore it seems (though rarely) that love can find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept.”
“Virginius, in killing his daughter, to preserve her from falling a victim to the lust of the decemvir Claudius, was guilty of the highest rashness; since he might certainly have gained the people, already irritated against the tyrant, without imbruing his hands in his own blood.”
“The decemvir, engrossed in mind by his lustful propensities, states that not only from the abusive language of Icilius yesterday, and the violence of Virginius, of which he had the entire Roman people as witnesses, but from authentic information also he ascertained, that cabals were held in the city during the whole night to stir up a sedition.”
“For this man, formerly distinguished at home and abroad, his office of decemvir and his colleagues had so changed, that he chose rather to be like to Appius than like himself.”
“Having set out, they leave Appius Claudius, son of the decemvir, as prefect of the city, a young man of great energy, and one who had ever from his cradle imbibed a hatred of the tribunes and the commons.”
“To them the assembly pays attention, they drown with clamour the voice of the decemvir.”
“In reply to such peremptory language of the tribunes, when amazement at the insolence of their conduct and silence struck all the rest of the patricians motionless, Appius Claudius Crassus, the grandson of the decemvir, is said to have stepped forward to refute their arguments,”
“He also held two of the minor offices of the _vigintiviratus_, the preliminary to a senatorial career, being (1) triumvir capitalis or else triumvir monetalis, (2) decemvir stlitibus iudicandis.”
“Meantime, Icilius held up the body of his loved one before the people in the forum, and bade them gaze on the work of their decemvir.”
The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic
“But the name of the decemvir still carries terror with it, and the commons waver at the sound.”
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘decemvir’.
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Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 303 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
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boards
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The Grandeur That Was Rome
Friends, Romans, Countrymen: lend me your words
transpadane, palatine, capitoline, athenaeum, aedile, decemvir, cincinnatus, spqr, quirites, exedra, propraetor, Quirinal and 70 more...
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gorgonglare's list
the best
zeppelin, ion, laconic, serendipity, cataract, saturnine, syzygy, cinnabar, bistro, lithium, paroxysm, scion and 694 more...
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