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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Decline \De*cline"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Declined}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Declining}.] [OE. declinen to bend down, lower, sink,
decline (a noun), F. d['e]cliner 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.]
1. 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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2. 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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3. 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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4. To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of
accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.
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Decline \De*cline"\, n. [F. d['e]clin. See {Decline}, v. i.]
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.
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Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.
--Swift.
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2. (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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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}.

Usage: 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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Decline \De*cline"\, v. t.
1. 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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2. 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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3. 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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4. (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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Note: 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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5. To run through from first to last; to repeat like a
schoolboy declining a noun. [R.] --Shak.
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