adverb
bis
bis (not comparable)
Classical[ˈbɪs]Ecclesiastical[ˈbis]
Mille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- not comparabletwice, two times, on two occasions, in two ways
Me torret face mutua / Thurini Calais filius Ornyti, / pro quo bis patiar mori, / si parcent puero fata superstiti.
I love my own fond lover, / Young Calais, son of Thurian Ornytus: / For him I'd die twice over, / Would Fate but spare the sweet survivor thus.23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horatius, Carmina 3.9“[...] et iam / bis medium amplexī, bis collō squāmea circum / terga datī [...].” “… and soon, twice [the serpents] had encircled [Laocoön’s] body, twice around [his] neck with [their] scaly backs ….” – Aeneas
29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.217–219
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
semel et iterum: duo tempora.bis adv. — in Mille Verba, Tempus et Numerī
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- bis consul
- twice consul.
- bis bina quot sint non didicisse
- to be absolutely ignorant of arithmetic.
bis, adv. num. for duis, from duo; like bellum from duellum, Paul. ex Fest. p. 66 Müll.; cf. Cic. Or. 45, 153, and the letter B,
I. twice, at two times, on two occasions, in two ways, = δίς (very freq. in prose and poetry).
I. In gen.:
inde ad nos elisa bis advolat (imago), Lucr. 4, 315; Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 8, 6; Hor. Epod. 5, 33; id. A. P. 358; 440; Verg. A. 6, 32; Ov. M. 4, 517 al.: non semel sed bis, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 77, § 179: semel aut bis, Quint. 11, 2, 34: bis ac saepius, id. 10, 5, 7; Nep. Thras. 2, 5: bis mori, Hor. C. 3, 9, 15: bis consul, who has been twice consul in all (diff. from iterum consul, who is a second time consul), Cic. Ac. 2, 5, 13; id. Lael. 11, 39; Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 23, § 59; Liv. 23, 30, 15; 23, 31, 6; 23, 34, 15; 25, 5, 3; cf. Val. Max. 4, 1, 3; Suet. Ner. 35.—Sometimes (among later writers) for iterum, now a second time: bis consul, Mart. 10, 48, 20; Prid. Kal. Febr.; Coll. Leg. Mos. et Rom. 1, § 11.—2. Bis is followed by,
(a). Semel ... iterum, Cic. Dom. 52, 134:
bis dimicavit: semel ad Dyrrhachium, iterum in Hispaniā, Suet. Caes. 36; so id. Aug. 25; id. Tib. 6; 72; id. Claud. 6; cf. Wolf, ejusd. id. Tib. 6.—(b). Primo... rursus, Suet. Aug. 17; 28.—
(g). Et rursus, without a preceding primo, Suet. Aug. 22; id. Tib. 48.—
B. Transf., doubly, twofold, in two ways, in a twofold manner:
bis periit amator, ab re atque animo simul, Plaut. Truc. 1, 1, 26: nam qui amat cui odio ipsus est, bis facere stulte duco; laborem inanem ipsus capit, et illi molestiam adfert, Ter. Hec. 3, 2, 8 sq.: in unā civitate bis improbus fuisti, cum et remisisti quod non oportebat, et accepisti quod non licebat, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 23, § 59: in quo bis laberis, primum, quod... deinde, quod, etc., id. Phil. 8, 4, 13: inopi beneficium bis dat qui dat celeriter, Publ. Syr. v. 235 Rib.: bis gratum est, id. v. 44 ib.: bis est mori alterius arbitrio mori, id. v. 50 ib.—II. Particular connections.
A. Bis in die, mense, anno, etc., or bis die, mense, anno, etc., twice a day, month, year, etc.; cf. Suet. Aug. 31 Oud.; id. Galb. 4; id. Vit. Ter. 2:
bis in die, Cic. Tusc. 5, 35, 100; Cato, R. R. 26; 87: bis die, Tib. 1, 3, 31; Verg. E. 3, 34; Hor. C. 4, 1, 25; Cels. 1, 1; 1, 8; 3, 27, n. 2; Plin. 10, 53, 74, § 146; cf. cotidie, Liv. 44, 16, 5: in mense, Plin. 11, 18, 19, § 59; Suet. Aug. 35: in anno, Varr. R. R. 2, 11, 7: anno, Plin. 2, 73, 75, § 184.—B. With other numerals, and particularly with distributives (class. in prose and poetry):
bis binos, Lucr. 5, 1299; Cic. N. D. 2, 18, 49: bis quinos dies, Verg. A. 2, 126; Mart. 10, 75, 3; Ov. F. 3, 124: bis senos dies, Verg. E. 1, 44: bis septeni, Plin. 8, 36, 54, § 127: bis octoni, Ov. M. 5, 50: bis deni, Verg. A. 1, 381; Prop. 2 (3), 9, 3; Mart. 9. 78: bis quinquageni, id. 12, 67: bis milies, Liv. 38, 55, 12; Auct. B. Afr. 90; Val. Max. 3, 7, 1.—2. Esp., with cardinal numbers to express twice a given number (in the poets very freq., but not in prose):
bis mille sagittae, Lucr. 4, 408; so Hor. Epod. 9, 17: bis sex, Varr. ap. Prob. Verg. E. 6, 31, p. 354 Lion.; Verg. A. 11, 9: bis quinque viri, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 24; Ov. M. 8, 500; 8, 579; 11, 96: bis trium ulnarum toga, Hor. Epod. 4, 8: duo, Ov. M. 13, 642: centum, id. ib. 5, 208 and 209; 12, 188: quattuor, id. ib. 12, 15: sex, id. ib. 6, 72; 6, 571; 4, 220; 12, 553; 12, 554; 15, 39: septem, id. ib. 11, 302: novem, id. ib. 14, 253 al.—C. Bis terve, two or three times, very rarely:
a te bis terve summum et eas perbrevis (litteras) accepi, Cic. Fam. 2, 1, 1: quem bis terve bonum cum risu miror, Hor. A. P. 358.—D. Bis terque, several times, repeatedly, Mart. 4, 82, 3; cf.:
stulte bis terque, utterly, Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 8, 6. —E. Bis tanto or tantum, twice as great, twice as much:
bis tanto amici sunt inter se quam prius, Plaut. Am. 3, 2, 62; id. Men. 4, 3, 6; id. Merc. 2, 2, 26: bis tantum quam tuus fundus reddit, Varr. R. R. 3, 2, 15: Tartarus ipse Bis patet in praeceps tantum, quantus, etc., Verg. A. 6, 578.—F. Bis ad eundem (sc.: lapidem offendi, as in Aus. Ep. 11 med.);
prov., to commit the same error twice, Cic. Fam. 10, 20, 2.—G. Bis minus, in an old enigma in Gell. 12, 6, 2, whose solution is Terminus (ter-minus): semel minusne an bis minus, non sat scio: at utrumque eorum, ut quondam audivi dicier, Jovi ipsi regi noluit concedere.!*? In composition, bis, like the Gr. δίς, loses the s: biceps, bidens, bifer, bigener, bijugus, bilix, etc.;
hence bissenus, Sen. Agam. 812; id. Herc. Fur. 1282; Stat. Th. 3, 574; and bisseni, id. ib. 12, 811; Aus. Monos. Idyll. 12, and Prud. Cath. 12, 192, are better written as two words: bis senus (seni); so either bisextus, or as two words, bis sextus (Stat. S. 4, 1, 9); v. bisextus.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
bis adv. num.
DVA-, DVI-, twice, at two times, on two occasions: non semel sed bis: bis ac saepius, N.: bis mori, H.: bis consul, twice a consul: a te bis terve (litteras) accepi, two or three times: Quem bis terve bonum miror, H. — Meton., doubly, twofold, in two ways, in a twofold manner: bis facere stulte, T.: bis improbus: Tartarus Bis patet in praeceps tantum, quantus, etc., twice as much as, etc., V. — With expressions of time: bis in die, twice a day: bis die, V.—With cardinal numbers, twice: bis mille equi, H.: bis sex loci, V.: bis duo, O.—With distributives: bis bina, twice two: sestertium bis miliens: quot annis Bis senos dies, V.: bis octoni anni, O.: bis denis navibus, V.: bis quinos silet dies, V.
Origins
From Old Latin duis (mentioned by Cicero), from Proto-Italic *dwis, from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“in two, twice, doubly”), adverb derived from *dwóh₁ (“two”); compare Ancient Greek δίς (dís), Sanskrit द्विस् (dvís). Doublet of dis-.
Descendants
- Catalanbis
- Englishbis
- Frenchbis
- Romanianbisfrom French bis
- Italianbis
- Portuguesebis
- Spanishbis
- Albanianbis
- Bulgarianбис
- Indonesianbisfrom Dutch bis
In English words that came into English from bis
- combinecombīnō
- bicepsbiceps
- biennialbiennium
- bigamybigamia
- twillbilix
- bistortbistorta
- bicipitalbiceps
- biforousbiforis
- bisbis
- bissextbisextus
- biflorousbis
- binomenbis
- bipinnariabis
- besaielbis
- bisulcousbisulcus
- binatebinus
- bifurcousbifurcus
- rebisrēs