638 DEC 
originally due to the king, or fome other to his ufe ; and 
then dies, the land in the hands of the iffue in tail fliall 
not be extended ; but it may, in either of thofe four 
tales. 7 Rep. 21. By tiie common law, the king for his 
debt had execution of the body, lands, and goods of the 
debtor. By Magna Charta, 9 Hen. III. c. 8, the king’s 
debt fliall not be levied on lands, where the goods and 
chattels of the debtor are fufficient to levy the debt; for 
in fuch cafe, the fheriff ought not to extend the lands 
and tenements of the king’s debtor, or of his heir, See. 
2 Injl. 19. Alfo pledges fliall not be diftrained, when 
the principal is fufficient, though in both cafes it mud 
be made appear to the flieriff; in the one, that there are 
goods and chattels enough ; and in the other, that the 
flieriff may levy the king’s debt on the principal. She¬ 
riffs having received the king’s debt, upon their next ac¬ 
count are to difeharge the debtors, on pain to forfeit tre¬ 
ble value ; and the Iherilfs are to give tallies to the king’s 
debtorson payment. 3 Edw. I. c. 19. & 25 Geo. III. c. 35, 
which regulates tire 1'ale of extended effates, on motion 
to the court of exchequer, by the attorney general. The 
king’s debtor, committed by the court of exchequer to 
the fleet, brought into the king’s-bench by habeas corpus, 
and furrendered in difeharge of his bail, may be removed 
again to the fleet by an habeas corpus from the exchequer, 
x Wilf. 248. 
DEBT (National). See Funds and National Debt. 
DEBT'ED, part, [from debt. To Debt is not found.3 
Indebted ; obliged to : 
Which do amount to three odd ducats more 
Than I ftand debted to this gentleman. Skakefpeare. 
DEBT'EE-EXE'CUTOR, /. If a perfon indebted to 
another makes his creditor or debtee his executor; or 
if fuch creditor obtains letter of adminiflration to his 
debtor ; he may retain fufficient to pay himfelf before 
any other creditors whole debts are of equal degree. 
Plowd. 543. 
DEBT'OR,yi [debitor, Lat.] He that owes fomething 
to another.—I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the 
Barbarians, both to the wife and to the unwife. Rom. i. 
14.—One that owes money.—The cafe of debtors in Rome, 
for the firft four centuries, was, after the fet time for 
payment, no choice but either to pay, or be the credi¬ 
tor’s (lave. Swift. 
There died my father, no man’s debtor ; 
And there I’ll die, nor worfe, nor better. Pope. 
One fide of an account book.—When I look upon the 
debtor fide, I find fuch innumerable articles, that I want 
arithmetic to caft them up ; but when I look upon the 
creditor fide, I find little more than blank paper. Addijon. 
By 23 Geo. III. c. 45, for the courts of confidence in 
London, Middlefiex, and Southwark, the provifions of 
which are extended by 26 Geo. III. c. 38, nearly totidein 
verbis, to all courts for the recovery of fmall debts ; no 
debtor committed to gaol for a debt not exceeding twenty 
(hillings, fliall be kept in cuftody, on any pretence what- 
foever, more than tw’enty days; nor for a debt between 
that and forty (hillings more than forty days; then to 
be difeharged without payment of fees, on forfeiture by 
the gaoler of five pounds. In cafe only of fraudulent 
concealment of money or goods by the debtor, the time 
of confinement may be enlarged, in the firft inftance to 
thirty days, and in the latter to fixty. 
DEBULLI'TION, f. [,debullitio , Lat.] A bubbling or 
feething over. 
DEtjA, a river of Spain, which runs into the Xalon, 
two leagues below Anza, in Aragon. 
DECACHOR'DON, f. [from hxw, ten, and a 
firing or chord.) A inufical inftrument among the ancients, 
that confided of ten firings, called by the Hebrews hafur , 
being nearly the fame as our harp, of a triangular figure, 
with an hollow belly or founding from the lower part. 
DECACU'MINATED, adj. [decacuminatus, Latin.] 
Having the top cut off. 
BS'CADE, f. [hr.x, Gr. decas, Lat.] The fum of 
DEC 
ten; a number containing ten_We make cycles and 
periods of years; as, decades, centuries, and chiliads, 
chiefly for the ufe of computations in hiftory, chrono¬ 
logy, and aftronomy. Holder. 
All rank’d by ten; whole decades, when they dine, 
Muft want a Trojan Have to pour the wine. Pope. 
The fpace of ten days in the French republican calendar, 
three of which make a month. 
DE'CADENCY, f. [decadence, Fr.] Decay; fall. 
DE'CAGON,yi [from hy.a, ten, and yumu., a corner.] 
A plain figure in geometry, having ten fides and angles. 
DECAGY'NIA, f. [.front ten, and yvre, a wo¬ 
man or wife.] In botany, the name of one of tlie orders 
in Linnams’s Artificial Syftern ; comprehending thofe 
flowers which have ten ftyles. This occurs only in the 
clafs decandria. 
DE'CALOGUE, f. [Axa/toyo?, Gr.] The ten com¬ 
mandments given by God to Mofes.—The commands of 
God are clearly revealed both in the decalogue and other 
parts of facred writ. Hammond. 
To DECA'MP, v. n. [decamper, Fr.] To fhift the 
camp ; to move off. 
DECAMP'MENT, f. The a6l of fhifting the camp. 
DECAN'DRIA, f. [from Axse, ten, and «y^, a man 
or luifband.] In botany, the name of the tenth clafs in 
Linnaeus’s Artificial Syftent; comprehending all herma¬ 
phrodite flowers with ten ffamens. It is alfo the name 
of an order in the claffes monadclphia, diadelphia, gy- 
nandria, and dioecia. 
To DECA'NT, v. a. [decanto, Lat. decanter, Fr.] To 
pour off gently by inclination.—Take aqua fords, and 
diflolve it in ordinary coined filver, and pour the co¬ 
loured folution into twelve times as much fair water, 
and then decant or filtrate the mixture, that it may be 
very clear. Boyle. 
They attend him daily as their chief, 
Decant his wine, and carve his beef. Swift. 
DECANTA'TION, f. [decantation, Fr.] The aft of 
decanting or pouring oft' clear. 
DECAN’TER, J. A glafs veffel made for pouring off 
liquor clear from the lees. 
DECA'PILLATED, part, not much ufed. [Lat. de, 
from, and capillus, the hair.] Having the hair pulled off; 
deprived of hair; bald. AJh. 
To DECA'PIT ATE, v. a. [decapito, Lat.] To behead, 
DECAPITE', adj. in heraldry, having the head cut 
off fmooth. 
DECA'POLIS, [from osy.a, ten, and ttoAk, a city.] In 
ancient geography, a diftrift beyond Jordan, almofit all 
of it belonging to the half tribe of Manaffeh; before the 
captivity, called Bethfan ; but afterwards occupied by 
heathens, who could not be driven out. It comprifed, 
as the name denotes, ten principal cities on the other 
fide the Jordan, if we except ScythopOlis, which flood 
on this fide, but its territory on the other. The inha¬ 
bitants of thofe parts, were fome of the primitive fol¬ 
lowers of Chrift, at the commencement of his miniftry. 
Matth. iv. 25. 
DECAPRO'TI, f. in Roman antiquity, officers for 
gathering the tributes and taxes. The decaproti were 
alfo obliged to pay for the dead, or to anfwer to the 
emperor Yor the quota parts of fuch as died out of their 
own eftates. 
To DEC A'PULATE, v. n. not much vfed. [de, from, and 
capulo, to empty.] To pour from one veffel to another; 
to empty ; to lade out. AJh. 
DECASPER'MUM, f. in botany. See Psjdium. 
DEC AS'TIC,_/i [from hxa, ten, and o-lip/o?, averfe.] 
An epigram or fitanza confiding of ten lines. 
DECAS'TYLE, f. [from hy.ee, ten, and o-lvAo?, a pil¬ 
lar.] A11 affemblage of ten pillars. 
DECAS'TYLE, adj. Having ten pillars. 
DECATOR'THOMA,yi with phyficians, a medicine 
with ten different ingredients. Scott. 
To 
