Lituus
//ˈlɪtju.əs// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A military trumpet.
"1786: Fig. 3. A Roman Lituus, or military trumpet, such as is mentioned by Horace in his first ode. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page vi."
- 2 An augur's staff with a recurved top.
- 3 A curve with polar equation r²θ=a², where a is a constant.
Example
More examples"1786: Fig. 3. A Roman Lituus, or military trumpet, such as is mentioned by Horace in his first ode. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page vi."
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin lituus.
Related phrases
More for "lituus"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.