DEC 
DECLI'NATORY, adj. An epithet formerly given 
to certain pleas at law.—Formerly the benefit of clergy 
ufed to he pleaded before trial or conviction, and was 
called a declinatory plea. Black flcne. 
To DECLI'NE, v.n. [ 'decline>, Lat.] To lean down¬ 
ward > 
And then with kind, embraces, tempting killes, 
And with declining head into his bofom, 
Bid him (lied tears, as being overjoy’d. Shakefpcarc. 
To deviate ; to run into obliquities.—Neither (halt thou 
fpeak in a caufe to decline after many, to vvred judgment. 
Exodus, xxiii. 2.—To (him; to avoid to do any.thing. 
To (ink.; to be impaired; to decay. Oppofed” to im¬ 
provement or exaltation.'—Sons at perfect age, and fa¬ 
thers declining, the father (liould be as a ward to the foil. 
Skakejpeare. 
That empire mud decline , 
Whofe chief fupport and finews are of coin. Waller. 
And nature, which all aits of life defigns, 
Not like ill poets, in the lad declines. Denham. 
To DECLI'NE, v. a. To bend downward; to bring 
down: 
And leaves the femblar.ee of a lover, fixt 
In melancholy deep, with head declin'd. 
And love-dejeited eyes. ThomTon. 
To (hun; to qvoid ; to refufe ; to be cautious of.—He 
had wifely declined that argument, though in their com¬ 
mon fermons they gave it. Clarendon. 
§ince the mufes do invoke my pow’r, 
I (hall no more decline that facred bow’r, 
Where Gloriana, their great midrefs, lies. Waller. 
To modify a word by various terminations; to inflect.— 
You decline mufa, and condrue Latin, by the' help of a 
tutor, or with fome Englifli trahflation. Watts. 
DECLI'NE, f. The date of tendency to the lefs or 
the worfe ; diminution ^ decay. Contrary to increafe, 
improvement, or elevation.—Thofe fathers lived in the 
decline of literature. Swift. 
The rife of fortune did I only wed, 
From its decline determin’d to recede. Prior. 
DE.CLI'VITY, f. \_dcdivis, Lat.] Inclination or ob¬ 
liquity reckoned downwards; gradual defeent, not pre¬ 
cipitous or perpendicular ; the contrary to acclivity.— 
Rivers will not flow unlefs upon declivity, and their 
fources be railed above the earth’s ordinary furfac.e, fo 
that they may run upon a defeent. Woodward. 
DECLl'VOUS, adj. [declivis, Lat.] Gradually de- 
feending; not precipitous; net perpendicularly linking; 
the contrary to acclivous; moderately deep. 
7 b DECG'CT, v. a. \_decoquo, decoEium, Lat.] To pre¬ 
pare by boiling for any fife ; to digefi in hot water.— 
Sena lofeth its windinefs by decoding ; and fubtile cr 
windy fpirits are taken off by incenlion or evaporation. 
Bacon. —To digefi by the heat of the ftomach : 
There (lie decods, and doth the food prepare ; 
There (he di(tributes it to ev’ry vein ; 
There (he expels what (he may fitly fpare. Davies. 
To boil in water, fo as to draw the ftrength or virtue of 
any thing.—The longer malt or herbs are decoded in li¬ 
quor, the clearer it is. Bacon .—To boil up to a confid¬ 
ence ; to (Lengthen or invigorate by boiling : this is no 
proper ufe: 
Can fodden water, their barley broth, 
Decod their cold blood to fuch valiant heat ( Shakcfpeare. 
DECOCT'IBLE, adj. That which may be boiled, or 
prepared by boiling. 
DECOC'TION, f. \_decodum, Lat.] The act of boil¬ 
ing any thing, to extradf its virtues.—fin infufion the 
longer it is, the greater is the part of the grofs body 
that goeth into the liquor ; but in decodion, though more 
goeth forth, yet it either purgeth at the top, or fettleth 
DEC * 047 
at the bottom. Bacon.— -The lineaments of a white lily 
will remain after the ftrongeft decodion. Arbuiiiuct. —A 
preparation made by boiling in water.—If the plant be 
boiled in water, the drained liquor is called the decodion 
of the plant. Arbuthnot. 
DECOC'TURE, f. A fubdar.ee drawn by decoftion. 
DECOLLA'TION, J\ [dccollatio, Lat.] The ait of 
■•beheading,—-He, by a decollation of all hope, annihilated 
his mercy : this, by an immoderancy thereof, dedroyed 
hisjudice. Brown.. 
DECOM'POSITJD, adj. \_decompofilus, Lat;] Com¬ 
pounded a fecond time; compounded with things already 
compofite.— Decompofites of three metals, or more, are too 
long to inquire of, except there be fome competitions of 
them already obferved. Bacon. 
DECOMPOSITION, J'. [decornp'ojilus, Lat.] The aft 
of compounding things already compounded.—We con- 
(ider what happens in the compolitions and decompojiticns 
of faline particles. Boyle. 
To DECOMPOU'ND, v. a. [ decompono , Lat.] To corn- 
pole of things already compounded; to compound a fe¬ 
cond time; to form by a fecond compolition.—Nature 
herfelf doth in the bowels of the earth make decompounded 
bodies, as we fee in vitriol, cinnabar, and even in ful- 
plmr itfelf. Boyle. —When a word dands for a very com¬ 
plex idea, that is compounded and decompounded, it is not 
ealy for men to form and retain that idea exactly. Locke. 
—To re (dive a compound into (imple parts. This is a 
(enfe that has crept irregularly into chemical books. 
DECOMPOU'ND, adj. Compofed of things or words 
already compounded ; compounded a fecond time.—No 
body (liould ufe any compound or decompound of the fub- 
fiantial verbs. Arbuthnot. 
• DE'COR AMENT, Jj. Ornament; embellifliment. 
To DE'CORATE, v , a. \jdecoro, Lat.] To adorn ; to 
embellilh ; to beautify. 
DECOR A'TION, f. Ornament; embellifliment; ad¬ 
ded beauty.—The enfigns of virtues contribute to the 
ornament of figures; fuch as the decorations belonging to 
the liberal arts,, and to war. Dryden. 
This helm and heavy buckler I can fpare, 
As only decorations of the war: 
So Mars is arm’d for glory, not for need. Dryden; 
DEC'OR ATOR,./! An adorner ; an embell-ifher. 
DE'COROUS, adj. [decorous, Lat.] Decent; fuitable 
to a character ; becoming; proper; befitting; fee'njly.— 
It is not fo decorous, in refpeit of God, that he (heuid 
immediately do all the meane.fi and trifiinged things him- 
felf, without any inferior cr fubordinate minider. Ray. 
To DECOR'TICATE, v.a. [decortico, Lat.] To di¬ 
ved of the bark or hulk ; to hulk ; to peel; to drip.— 
Take great barley, dried and decorticated, after it is well 
wafned, and boil it in water. Arbuthnot. 
DECGRTICA'TION, J. The ait of dripping the 
bark or hulk. 
DECC'RUM, f. [Latin.] Decency; behaviour con¬ 
trary to lieentioufnefs, contrary to levity; feemlinefs.— 
Gentlemen of the army iliould be, at lead, obliged to* 
external decorum; a profligate life and character Iliould 
not be a means of advancement. Swift. 
Beyond the fix’d and fettled rules 
Of vice and virtue in the fchools, 
The better fort (hall fet before ’em 
A grace, a manner, a decorum. Prior. 
DECOU'RS, [ in heraldry, the decrement, the wane 
of the moon facing the left fide of the efcutcheon. 
fo DECOY', v. a. [from koey, Dutch, a cage.] To 
lure into a cage; to entrap ; to draw into a fnare.—A- 
fowler had taken a partridge, who offered to decoy her 
companions into the fnare. L’EJlrange. 
•Decoy'd by the fantadic blaze, 
Now led, and now renew’dj he links abforpt, 
Rider.and herfe, _ Tkomfon-. 
DECOY'' 
