mĕātus

I. a going, passing, motion, course (poet. and post-Aug.).

I. Lit.: solis lunaeque meatus, Lucr. 1, 128: caeli, Verg. A. 6, 850: aquilae, Tac. H. 1, 62: spiritus, Quint. 7, 10, 10: animae, Plin. Ep. 6 16, 13. —

II. Transf., concr., a way, path, passage, Val. Fl. 3, 403: meatum vomiticnibus praeparare, Plin. 19, 5, 26, § 85: spirandi, id. 28, 13, 55, § 197: cur signa meatus Deseruere suos, left their paths, i. e. became darkened, eclipsed, Luc. 1, 664: Danubius in Ponticum sex meatibus erumpit, Tac. G. 1; cf.: bifido meatu divisus Rhenus, Claud. B. G. 336. —

B. The avenues of sensation in the body: homo septem meatus habet in capite, duos oculos, etc., Mart. Cap. 7, § 739.