fovea, ae, f. kindred with favissae, a small pit, esp. for taking wild beasts, a pit fall (syn.: scrobs, specus: fossa, etc.). Lit. In gen.: (humor) ut in foveam fluat, Lucr. 2, 475: (cadavera) Donec humo tegere ac foveis abscondere discunt, Verg. G. 3, 558.

—Transf.: genitales feminae, i. e. the womb, Tert. Anim. 19.

— In partic., a pitfall, pit (class.): tetra belua, quae quoniam in foveam incidit, etc., Cic. Phil. 4, 5, 12; Lucr. 5, 1250; Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 50; id. A. P. 459: anates in foveas delapsae, Plin. 10, 38, 54, § 112.

— Trop., a snare (Plautin.): ita decipiemus fovea leonem Lycum, Plaut. Poen. 1, 1, 59; id. Pers. 4, 4, 45; cf.: ex iisdem foveis emergentes, conspiracy, Amm. 14, 9, 1,