I.a little flower, floweret (rare but class.).
B. Transf., the part of a fruit where the blossom was, the eye, Col. 12, 45, 5.—
II. Trop., the flower, pride, ornament: “non enim flosculos ... sed, jam decimum aetatis ingressus annum, certos atque deformatos fructus ostenderat,” Quint. 6 praef. § 9; Cat. 24, 1: “vitae,” i. e. youth, Juv. 9, 127.—
B. In partic., of speech.
1. Flower of rhetoric, ornament: “omnes undique flosculos carpere atque delibare,” Cic. Sest. 56, 119; cf.: “juvenibus flosculos omnium partium in ea, quae sunt dicturi, congerentibus,” Quint. 10, 5, 23; 2, 5, 22; 12, 10, 73: “ut Noctes istae quadam tenus his quoque historiae flosculis leviter injectis aspergerentur,” Gell. 17, 2, 1.—
2. A motto, sentence culled from a writing, Sen. Ep. 33, 1.
