tābēs is, f 1 TA-, a wasting, melting away, dwindling, gradual decline, decay: aegritudo habet tabem: cadavera tabes absumebat, L.

—Marasmus, consumption, plague, pestilence, wasting fever: tanta vis avaritiae, velut tabes, invaserat, etc., S.: id (aes alienum) postremo velut tabem pervenisse ad corpus, L.

— cf. fori, Ta.

—The moisture of decay, slime, corruption: liquentis nivis, L.: Tinctaque mortiferā tabe sagitta madet, poison, O.

—Fig., consumption, decay, playue: crescentis faenoris, L.: quos durus amor crudeli tabe peredit, V.: lenta, O.