Latin

Verb

aestuō ‎(present infinitive aestuāre, perfect active aestuāvī, supine aestuātum); first conjugation

1. I am in agitation or violent commotion, move to and fro, writhe, rage, toss, boil up, heave.
   • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 5.1097

     et ramosa tamen cum ventis pulsa vacillans / aestuat in ramos incumbens arboris arbor

     Yet also when a many-branched tree, / beaten by winds, writhes swaying to and fro, pressing 'gainst branches of a neighbour tree

2. (of fire) I burn, blaze, rage.
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgicon 4.263

     […] aestuat ut clausis rapidus fornacibus ignis

     […] as the rapacious fire blazes in a sealed furnace

3. (of the effect of fire) I am warm or hot, swelter, glow, burn.
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgicon 1.107

     […] et cum exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis / ecce […]

     […] and see, when the scorched land burns with the grasses withering […]

4. (of water) I rise in waves or billows, surge, whirl, seethe.
   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 2.6.4

     […] ubi Maura semper / aestuat unda

     […] and Moorish wave / that whirls the sand.

5. (figuratively, of emotions) I burn with desire, am agitated or excited, am inflamed, fret.
   • 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem 2.2.55

     quod ubi auditum est aestuare illi qui pecuniam dederant

     And when this was known, they began to fret who had paid the money.

6. (figuratively, of emotions) I vacillate, hesitate, am in doubt or undecided.
   • c. 95 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 10.7.33

     sic anceps inter utrumque animus aestuat […]

     Consequently, the mind will waver in doubt between the two alternatives […]

Inflection

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• aestuo in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• aestuo in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “aestuo”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.