1. A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a
thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the
decline of virtue and religion.
Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.
Swift. 2. (Med.) That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the
decline of a fever.
3. A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary
consumption; as, to die of a decline. Dunglison.
Syn. — Decline, Decay, Consumption. Decline marks the first stage in a downward progress; decay
indicates the second stage, and denotes a tendency to ultimate destruction; consumption marks a steady
decay from an internal exhaustion of strength. The health may experience a decline from various causes
at any period of life; it is naturally subject to decay with the advance of old age; consumption may take
place at almost any period of life, from disease which wears out the constitution. In popular language
decline is often used as synonymous with consumption. By a gradual decline, states and communities
lose their strength and vigor; by progressive decay, they are stripped of their honor, stability, and greatness; by
a consumption of their resources and vital energy, they are led rapidly on to a completion of their existence.
Declined
(De*clined") a. Declinate.
Decliner
(De*clin"er) n. He who declines or rejects.
A studious decliner of honors.
Evelyn. Declinometer
(Dec`li*nom"e*ter) n. [Decline + -meter.] (Physics) An instrument for measuring the declination
of the magnetic needle.
Declinous
(De*clin"ous) a. Declinate.
Declivitous
(De*cliv"i*tous De*cli"vous) a. Descending gradually; moderately steep; sloping; downhill.
Declivity
(De*cliv"i*ty) n.; pl. Declivities [L. declivitas, fr. declivis sloping, downhill; de + clivus a
slope, a hill; akin to clinare to incline: cf. F. déclivité. See Decline.]
1. Deviation from a horizontal line; gradual descent of surface; inclination downward; slope; — opposed to
acclivity, or ascent; the same slope, considered as descending, being a declivity, which, considered as
ascending, is an acclivity.
2. A descending surface; a sloping place.
Commodious declivities and channels for the passage of the waters.
Derham. Decoct
(De*coct") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decocted; p. pr. & vb. n. Decocting.] [L. decoctus, p. p. of
decoquere to boil down; de- + coquere to cook, boil. See Cook to decoct.]
1. To prepare by boiling; to digest in hot or boiling water; to extract the strength or flavor of by boiling; to
make an infusion of.
2. To prepare by the heat of the stomach for assimilation; to digest; to concoct.
3. To warm, strengthen, or invigorate, as if by boiling. [R.] "Decoct their cold blood." Shak.
Decoctible
(De*coct"i*ble) a. Capable of being boiled or digested.
