GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Decline , v. i. [imp. & p. p. Declined ; p. pr. & vb. n. Declining.] [OE. declinen to bend down, lower, sink, decline (a noun), F. décliner to decline, refuse, fr. L. declinare to turn aside, inflect (a part of speech), avoid; de- + clinare to incline; akin to E. lean. See Lean, v. i.]
    To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend. “With declining head.”
   Shak.
   
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   He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family.
   Lady Hutchinson.
   
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   Disdaining to decline,
   Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries.
   Byron.
   
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   The ground at length became broken and declined rapidly.
   Sir W. Scott.
   
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   To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines.
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   That empire must decline
   Whose chief support and sinews are of coin.
   Waller.
   
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   And presume to know . . . 
   Who thrives, and who declines.
   Shak.
   
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   To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.
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   Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
   Ps. cxix. 157.
   
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   To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.
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2.       
   Decline, v. t.
   To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
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   In melancholy deep, with head declined.
   Thomson.
   
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   And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste
   His weary wagon to the western vale.
   Spenser.
   
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   To cause to decrease or diminish. [Obs.] “You have declined his means.” 
   Beau. & Fl.
   
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   He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
   Burton.
   
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   To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them.
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   Could I
   Decline this dreadful hour?
   Massinger.
   
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   (Gram.) To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective.
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   ☞ Now restricted to such words as have case inflections; but formerly it was applied both to declension and conjugation.
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   After the first declining of a noun and a verb.
   Ascham.
   
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   To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun. [R.]
   Shak.
   
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3.       
   Decline , n. [F. déclin. See Decline, v. i.]
   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.
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   Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.
   Swift.
   
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   (Med.) That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever.
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   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.
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