rōro, āvi, ātum, 1, v. n. and a. [ros], to let fall, drop, or distil dew (syn. stillo). Lit. Neutr.: (Aurora) toto rorat in orbe, Ov. M. 13, 622: cum rorare Tithonia conjux Coeperit, id. F. 3, 403: rorate, caeli, Vulg. Isa. 45, 8.

— More usually impers., dew falls, it drizzles, it sprinkles: ante rorat quam pluit, Varr. L. L. 7, § 58; Col. 11, 2, 45; 76; Plin. 17, 10, 14, § 74; Suet. Aug. 92.

— Act.: tellus rorata mane pruinā, moistened, besprinkled, Ov. F. 3, 357.

— Transf., to drop, trickle, drip, distil. Neutr.: lacrimis spargunt rorantibus ora genasque, with trickling, flowing, Lucr. 2, 977 (cf. infra, b.): rorant pennaeque sinusque, drip or shed moisture, Ov. M. 1, 267: comae, id. ib. 5, 488: ora dei madidā barbā, id. ib. 1, 339; cf. id. ib. 3, 683; 177; 14, 786: sanguine vepres, Verg. A. 8, 645; 11, 8: lacte capellae, id. Cul. 75: ora, Luc. 2, 123: hostili cruore arma, Quint. Decl. 4, 8.

— Act., to bedew, to moisten, wet: circumstant, lacrimis rorantes ora genasque, Lucr. 3, 469: saxa cruore, Sil. 10, 263.

— And with the liquid as an object: quam caelum intrare parantem Roratis lustravit aquis Iris, with sprinkled waters, Ov. M. 4, 479; id. F. 4, 728: si roraverit quantulum cumque imbrem, Plin. 17, 10, 14, § 74.

—Absol.: pocula rorantia, which yielded the wine drop by drop (a transl. of the Gr. ἐπιψεκάζειν), * Cic. Sen. 14, 46: rorans juvenis, the youth pouring out, the young cup-bearer, i. e. Ganymedes, as a constellation (Aquarius), Manil. 5, 482.

— * Trop., to drop, distil, etc.: si minutis illis suis et rorantibus responsionibus satisfaciet consulenti, Macr. S. 7, 9.