650 DEC 
Seeds: fblitary. This is an obfcure genus, the fruit be-, 
ing unknown to this day.— EJftntial Character. Calyx, 
eight to twelve-leaved, fuperior; petals eight to twelve ; 
capfule eight-celled, with many feeds. 
Decumaria barbara, or climbing decumaria, the only 
fpecies known, is a tree with irregular branches, rooting 
by knotty joints ; leaves oppofite, petioled, leathery, vein¬ 
ed, towards the bafe remotely ferrate ; flowers like thofe 
of the lime-tree, whitifh, and very fweet feented. Native 
of Carol ina, where it was observed by Mr. Walter, who, 
fuppofing it to be a new plant, named it Forfythia, in ho¬ 
nour'd Mr. William Forfyth, Mr. Miller’s fucceflbr in 
the botanic garden at Chelfea, and fince gardener to his 
majefty at Kenfington. Introduced in 1785 by baron Hake. 
DECUM'BENCE, or Decumbencv, f . [ decambo, 
Lat.] The a£t of lying down; the poflure of lying down. 
—This mud come to pafs, if we hold opinion they lie 
not down, and enjoy no decumbence at all; for ftation is. 
properly no red, but one kind of motion. Brown. 
DECUM'BITURE,y. [from dccumbo, Lat.] The time 
at which a man takes to his bed in a difeafe. [In aftro- 
logy. 1 A fcheme of the heavens eredted for that time, 
by which the prognoftics of recovery or death are liif. 
,covered: 
It but a mile (lie travel out of town, 
The planetary hour mud: firft be known, 
And lucky moment: if her eye but alces, 
Or itches, its decumbiture the takes. Drydcn. 
DE'CUPLE, adj. [ decuplus , Lat.] Tenfold; the fame 
number ten times repeated.—Man’s length, that is, a 
perpendicular from the vertex unto the foie of the foot, 
is decuple unto his profundiry; that is, a diredt line be¬ 
tween the bread and the fpine. Brown. 
To DECU'RIATE, v. a. [decuriare, Lat. of de and 
curia.'] To divide into bands. 
DECU'RION, f. \_decurio , Lat.] A fubaltern officer 
in the Roman armies. He commanded a decuria, which 
confided of ten men, and was the third part of a turma, 
or the thirtieth part of a legion of horfe, which was 
compofed of 380 men. There were certain magiftrates 
in the provinces called decuriones municipalcs, who formed 
a body to reprefent the Roman fenate in free and corpo¬ 
rate towns. They confided of ten; whence the name 
and their duty extended to watch over the intereffs of 
their fellow-citizens, and to increafe the revenues of the 
commonwealth. Their court was called curia decurionum, 
and minor fenatus ; and their decrees, called decreta decurio¬ 
num, were marked D. D. at the top. They generally 
ftyled themfelves civitatum patres cur.iales, and honorati mu- 
nicipiorum fenatores. They were elected with the fame 
ceremonies as the Roman fenators ; they were to be at 
lead twenty-five years of age, and to be pofielfed of a 
certain fum of money. The election happened in the 
kalends of March. 
DECUR'SION,/! \_decurfus, Lat.] The a£t of running 
down.—What is decayed by that decurfion of waters, is 
fupplied by the terrene faeces which water brings. Hale. 
DECURTA'TION, f. [ decurtatio , Lat.] The aft of 
Cutting fliort, or fhortening. 
To DECUS'SATE, v. a. \_decu/fo, Lat.] To interfect 
at acute angles.-—This it performs by the adtion of a 
notable mufcle on each lide, having the form of the let¬ 
ter X, made up of many fibres, decujfating one another 
longways. Ray. 
DECUSSA'TION, f. The aft of eroding; date of 
being eroded at unequal angles.—Though there be de- 
cuffation of the rays in the pupil of the eye, and fo the 
image of the objedt in the retina, or bottom of the eye, 
be inverted; yet doth not the object appear inverted, 
but in its right or natural poflure. Ray. 
DECUS'SION, f. A fhaking down, or beating off. 
DECUS'SORIUM, f. A furgical inftrument, which, 
by prefling gently on the dura mater, caufes an evacua- 
D E D 
tion of the pus collected, through the perforation made 
by the trepan. 
DECZ, or Deez, a town of Tranfylvaria, on the ri¬ 
ver Samos : feven miles north-weft of Samofvivar. 
DEDA'LEAN, adj. [ dadahus, Lat.] Intricate or per¬ 
plexed ; alfo expert or cunning. 
DE'DAN, [from the Hebrew, fignifying a judge. ] A 
man’s name. 
DEDA'RD, a town of Tranfylvania : eight miles weft 
of Kerefztier. 
DED'DINGTON, an ancient town in Ox ford ft. ire, 
formerly a corporate town, and a borough. It is diftant 
from London feventy-two miles, and from Oxford fix- 
teen. It has a market weekly on Saturdays ; and three 
fairs in a year, viz. Augtift 21, October 11, and Novem¬ 
ber 22. Near the town are two noted fprings, celebrated 
for their medicinal virtues. [The navigable canal from 
Birmingham to Oxford comes up within a mile of the 
town, and is of great advantage to the inhabitants. Here 
was formerly a caftle, to which the earl of Pembroke 
conduced Piers de Gavefton, and abandoned him to the 
fury of his enemies. Here is alfo a charity-fchool well 
endowed. 
To DEDE'CORATE, v.a. Idedecoro, Lat.] To dif- 
grace ; to bring a reproach upon. 
DEDECORA'TION, f. The add of difgracing ; dis¬ 
grace. 
DEDE'COROUS, adj. \_dcdea;s, Lat.] Disgraceful; 
reproachful ; fhameful. 
DE'DELER, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the province' 
of Caramania : twenty-one miles north-weft of Cogni. 
DEDENTI'TION, J. [de and dent it io, Lat.] Lofs or 
fhedding of the teeth.—Solon divided life into ten fep- 
tenaries, becaufe in every one thereof a man received 
fome fenfible mutation : in the firft is dedentition, or fall¬ 
ing of the teeth. Brown. 
DED'HAM, a fmall town in Efiex, pieafantly fituated 
in a vale, on the river Stour, which feparates Eff. x from 
Suffolk. This river is navigable for barges from Man- 
ningtree, which is fituate about three miles lower on the 
ftream, and pafles by Dedham, Stratford, Nayland, Bures, 
See. to Sudbury, about fixteen miles diftant. It is twelve 
miles diftant from Ipfwich, fifteen from Harwich, feven 
from Colchefter, and fifty-eight from London, through 
Colehefter. It lias a market on Tuefdays, and a fair on 
Eafter-Tuefday for horfes and pedlar’s ware. A very 
handfome bridge acrofs the Stour was finifhed in 1790. 
Here is a very capital free grammar-fehool, endowed by 
queen Elizabeth in the feventeenth year of her reign. 
The church is a fine (lately Gothic building, the nave 
meafuring ninety feet long by fifty wide, and the length 
of tire chancel forty feet. The tower or fteeple is a re¬ 
markably fine piece of flint-work : the height to the bat¬ 
tlement is 105 feet ; to the top of each of the four pin¬ 
nacles at the corners 120 ; it is lupported by three-arches, 
which reft upon four pillars. Within the church is an 
old mural monument, fuppofed to be that of the founder; 
but antiquarians have not determined its date or name. 
To DE'DICATE, v.a. [ dedico, Lat.] To devote to 
fome divine power; to confecrate and fet apart to (acred 
ufes.—The princes offered for dedicating the altar, in the 
day that it was anointed. Numb. vii. 10. 
Warn’d by the feer, to her offended name 
We rais’d, and dedicate, this wond’rous frame. Drydcn . 
To appropriate folemnly to any perfon or purpofe.—He 
went to learn the profeffion of a foldier, to which lie had 
dedicated himfelf. Clarendon. 
Ladies, a gen’rul welcome from his grace 
Salutes you all : this night he dedicates 
To fair-content and you. Shakefpeare. 
To inferibe to a patron.—He compiled ten elegant books, 
and dedicated them to the lord Btirghley. Peach am. 
DE'DICATE, 
