vapulo

• bāplō (Late Latin, proscribed)

From Proto-Indo-European *weh₂p-. Probably onomatopoeic in its origin, meaning 'cry, wail', from which meaning the attested meaning 'be beaten, be stricken' evolved.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwaː.pʊ.ɫoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvaː.pu.lo]

vāpulō (present infinitive vāpulāre, perfect active vāpulāvī, supine vāpulātum); first conjugation, impersonal in the passive

1. (intransitive, mediopassive voice) to be flogged or beaten

   Coordinate terms: verberō, flagellō

   • c. 190 BCE – 185 BCE, Plautus, Amphitryon 1.1.179–180:

     Hinc enim mihi dextra vox auris, ut videtur, verberat. ―
     Metuo, vocis ne vicem hodie hic vapulem, quae hunc verberat.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe 2.211–213:

     Numquam vidi iniquius
     certationem comparatam quam haec hodie inter nos fuit:
     ego vapulando, ill’ verberando, usque ambo defessi sumus.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 4.935.thru942:

     […] proptereaque fere res omnes aut corio sunt
     aut etiam conchis aut callo aut cortice tectae.
     Interiorem etiam partem spirantibus aër
     verberat hic idem, cum ducitur atque reflatur.
     Quare utrimque secus cum corpus vapulet et cum
     perveniant plagae per parva foramina nobis
     corporis ad primas partis elementaque prima,
     fit quasi paulatim nobis per membra ruina.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 54 CE, Seneca the Younger, Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii 15:

     Apparuit subito C. Caesar et petere illum in servitutem coepit; producit testes, qui illum viderant ab illo flagris, ferulis, colaphis vapulantem.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (Plautine, derogatory, in the imperative or subjunctive) used as a curse
   • c. 190 BCE – 185 BCE, Plautus, Amphitryon 1.1.216:

     Nunc profecto vapula ob mendacium.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 209 BCE, Plautus, Asinaria 2.4.71–73:

     Pergin precari pessimo? ― Quae res? Tun libero homini
     male servos loquere? ― Vapula. ― Id quidem tibi hercle fiet,
     ut vapules, Demaenetum simul ac conspexero hodie.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 197 BCE, Plautus, Persa 2.3.19–20:

     Vapulet,
     ne sibi me credat supplicem fore: […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (transferred senses):
   1. (figurative) to be attacked, lashed
      • 68 BCE – 44 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 2.14.1:

        […] quom se omnium sermonibus sentiet vapulare et quom has actiones euanatreptous videbit, ruere incipiat.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   2. to be beaten, conquered
      • 62 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares 8.1.4:

        Quod ad Caesarem, crebri et non belli de eo rumores, sed susurratores dumtaxat veniunt. Alius equitem perdidisse, quod, opinor, certe factum est, alius septimam legionem vapulasse, ipsum apud Bellovacos circumsederi interclusum ab reliquo exercitu; […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   3. (of inanimate things) to be struck, beaten
      • 116 BCE – 27 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, Agricultural Topics 1.55.1:

        De oliveto oleam, quam manu tangere possis e terra ac scalis, legere oportet potius quam quatere, quod ea quae vapulavit macescit nec dat tantum olei.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Agamemnon 90–95:

        vela secundis inflata notis
        ventos nimium timuere suos,
        nubibus ipsis inserta caput
        turris pluvio vapulat Austro,
        densasque nemus spargens umbras
        annosa videt robora frangi; […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   4. to be afflicted, in trouble
      • c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus 1.1.12–13:

        Nihil hoc Iovis ad iudicium attinet:
        sub Veneris regno vapulo, non sub Iovis.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   5. (of property) to be squandered
      • c. 200 BCE, Plautus, Stichus 5.5.10:

        Vapulat peculium, actum est.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Naturales quaestiones 6.7.6:

        Nam apud nos quoque multa quae procul a mari fuerant subito eius accessu vapulauerunt et villas in prospectu collocatas fluctus qui longe audiebatur invasit; […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• vāpulāris

• English: vapulate (borrowed)
• Spanish: vapulear, vapular

• “vapulo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vapulo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “vapulo”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “vapulo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

vapulo

1. first-person singular present indicative of vapular