ab-sūmo, mpsi, mptum (not msi, mtum), 3, v. a. Orig., to take away; hence, to diminish by taking away. Of things, to consume, to annihilate; of persons, orig. to ruin, to corrupt; later, in a phys. sense, to kill. Thus Hercules, in the transl. of the Trachiniae, complains: sic corpus clade horribili absumptum extabuit, consumed, ap. Cic. Tusc. 2, 8, 20; so Philoctetes in a piece of Attius: jam jam absumor: conficit animam vis vulneris, Att. ap. Cic. Tusc. 2, 7, 19 (Trag. Rel. p. 209 Rib.): jam ista quidem absumpta res erit: diesque noctesque estur, bibitur, etc., Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 78: absumpti sumus, pater tuus venit, we are lost, undone! id. ib. 2, 1, 18; id. Am. 5, 1, 6: nisi quid tibi in tete auxili est, absumptus es, you are ruined, id. Ep. 1, 1, 76: dum te fidelem facere ero voluisti, absumptu's paene, id. Mil. 2, 4, 55: pytisando modo mihi quid vini absumpsit! has consumed, Ter. Heaut. 3, 1, 48; so, absumet heres Caecuba dignior, Hor. C. 2, 14, 25: mensas malis, Verg. A. 3, 257; cf. id. G. 3, 268; and: absumptis frugum alimentis, Liv. 23, 30, 3: urbem flammis, to consume, destroy, Liv. 30, 7, 9; cf. Vell. 2, 130; Plin. Ep. 10, 42: plures fame quam ferro absumpti, Liv. 22, 39, 14; cf.: quos non oppresserat ignis, ferro absumpti, killed, id. 30, 6, 6; and: multi ibi mortales ferro ignique absumpti sunt, id. 5, 7, 3; so, nisi mors eum absumpsisset, id. 23, 30 fin.; and: animam leto, Verg. A. 3, 654.

—Absumi, to be killed: ubi nuper Epiri rex Alexander absumptus erat, Liv. 9, 17 fin.

—Absumi in aliquid, to be used for any thing, to be changed into: dentes in cornua absumi, Plin. 11, 37, 45 fin.

— Fig., to ruin: cum ille et curā et sumptu absumitur, Ter. Phorm. 2, 2, 26: satietatem amoris, to consume, id. ib. 5, 5, 6.

—Often of time: ne dicendo tempus absumam, spend, pass, Cic. Quint. 10; so, quattuor horas dicendo, Liv. 45, 37, 6: diem, Ov. Tr. 4, 10, 114: biduum inter cogitationes, Curt. 3, 6, 8: magnam partem aetatis in hoc, Quint. 12, 11, 15.