DEC 



26 



DEC 



twelfth month of the modern year, but 

 the tenth of the Roman year. 



DECEM'VIRATE, Lat. decemiirattis ; the 

 office or term of office of the decemvirs 

 (decemviri] or ten magistrates of Rome: 

 they had absolute authority for two years. 



DECEN'NART, Lat. decennivm, from de- 

 cent; a tithing consisting of ten freeholders 

 and their families : ten decennaries con- 

 stituted a hundred. 



DECEP'TIVE CA'DENCE. In music, a ca- 

 dence in which the final close is avoided 

 by varying the final chord. 



DECID'UOCS, Lat. decidutu, falling as 

 leaves do in autumn. A calyx is said to 

 be deciduous when it falls or decays along 

 with the flower-petals, and permanent 

 when it remains after these are fallen. 

 Applied also to the temporary parts of 

 animals, as hair, horn, teeth, &c. 



DE'CIGHAM, a French weight of one 

 tenth of a grain. 



DE'CIL, a position of two planets when 

 they are distant from each other a tenth 

 of the zodiac. 



DECI'LITER, a French measure of capa- 

 city equal to one tenth of a liter. 



DECI'MAL, from decimus, tenth, decem, 

 ten, increasing or diminishing by ten; as 

 decimal arithmetic, which proceeds on the 

 scale of ten, or in which we count by 

 periods of tens ; decimal fractions, or more 

 concisely decimals, are such fractions as 

 have 10, 100, 1000, &c., for their deno- 

 minators, but which, for the sake of 

 brevity, are omitted in writing, and the 

 numerator only is expressed with a point 

 on the left of it, thus : 



and which has always as many figures as 

 there are ciphers in the denominator. A 

 decimal scale is one divided into tenths, 

 used by draftsmen to regulate the dimen- 

 sions of their drawings. We also speak 

 n f the decimal scale of numbers, and the 

 itcimal notation, in contradistinction to 

 he duodecimal, binary, and other scales of 

 notation. 



DECIM'ETER, a French measure of length 

 equal to the tenth of a meter. 



DECIMO-SEXTO (Lat.) A book is in 

 detimo-sexto when a sheet is folded into 

 16 leaves. 



DECK, Ger. decken, Sax. thec-an, to cover, 

 from Lat. tectum, a roof; the floor of a 

 ship. Small vessels have only one deck, 

 large vessels have two, or three decks, as 

 a three-decker; i.e. carrying two entire 

 tiers of guns, or three such tiers. 



DECKED. In heraldry, a term applied to 

 birds when their feathers are trimmed at 

 the edges with a small line of another 

 colour. 



DECLARA'TION, from de and claro. to 

 make clear. 1. In late, that part of the 

 process or pleadings in which a statement 



is made of the plaintiff's complaint. 



2. In politics, a proclamation intimating 

 something of national importance. 



DECLEN'SIOX, from de and clino, to lean ; 

 declination. This is the word commonly 

 used in grammar to denote the change or 

 inflexion of nouns and adjectives through 

 their terminations. 



DECLINA'TION, Lat. declinatio. In astro- 

 nomy, the declination of a star, or any 

 point in the- heavens, is its shortest dis- 

 tance from the equator corresponding 

 with latitude on a terrestrial globe. In 

 navigation, the declination of the needle or 

 compass is its variation from the true 

 meridian of any place to the east or west. 

 In dialling, the declination of a wall or 

 plane is an arc of the horizon contained 

 between the plane and the prime vertical 

 circle, if reckoned from east or west, or 

 between the meridian and the plane if 

 reckoned from the north or south. In 

 grammar, see DECLENSION. 



DECLINA'TOR, an instrument for deter- 

 mining the declination or inclination of 

 reclining planes. 



DECLIN'ATORT PLEA.. In laic, a plea be- 

 fore trial or conviction, intended to show 

 that the party is not liable to the penalty 

 of the law, or is specially exempted from 

 the jurisdiction of the court. 



DECLI'NERS, or DECLINING DIALS, those 

 which cut either the plane of the prim* 

 vertical circle or plane of the horizon 

 obliquely. 



DECLI'NINO, DECLI'NATE (obliqitus descen- 

 dens), descending obliquely. Applied to 

 stems, pericaps, &c. of plants, when bent 

 like a bow with the arch downwards. 



DECOLORA'TION, a term adopted from 

 the French, signifying the deprivation of 

 any substance of its colour. Thus indigo 

 in solution is decolorated by charcoal. 



DECOMPOS'IT.S, a natural class of plants, 

 consisting of such, as have decomposite 

 leaves. 



DECOM'POSITE, } Lat. decompositus, doubly 

 DECOM'POTXD, ) compound. Applied to 

 leaves of plants, when the primary leaf 

 is so divided that each part forms a com- 

 pound leaf; and to flowers which contain 

 within a common calyx several smaller 

 calyces. 



DECOMPOSI'TION, from de and compono, 

 to disunite. 1. The separation of the 

 component parts or principles of any 



compound body. See AFFIXITI. 2. In 



mechanics, the decomposition of forces is 

 the resolving of one force into several 

 others of which the resultant is equal to 



that force. 3 Decomposition of light, 



the separation of a beam of light into the 

 different rays which exhibit the prismatic 

 colours. 



DECRE'E, Lat. decretum, a judicial deci- 

 sion, sentence, or determination ; as a 

 decree of the court of Chacery : am edict 



