▪ I. declining, vbl. n.
(dɪˈklaɪnɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb decline, q.v. (Formerly frequent as a n.; now usually gerundial.)
1. Turning aside, falling away; = declension 2.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 34 b, Our general labour must stande in.. declynynge from euyll, and in dylygent workynge of good. 1574 W. Travers (title), Full and plaine Declaration of Ecclesiasticall Discipline and off the Declininge off the Churche off Englande. 1646 P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. iv. 347 In times of general declining. 1650 R. Hollingworth Exerc. Usurped Powers 39 Partiall and temporary declinings in men from their said integritie. |
2. Avoidance (obs.); non-acceptance; refusal.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 111 If any fall or sit down on the ground and cast away his weapon, they bite him not; taking that declining for submissive pacification. 1636 Massinger Bashf. Lover v. i, There is now No contradiction or declining left: I must and will go on. 1786 F. Burney Diary 7 Aug., To save myself from more open and awkward declinings. |
3. Gradual sinking or descent; downward slope or declivity.
| 1601 Cornwallyes Disc. Seneca (1631) 7 Being once brought to that declining, they never leave rolling untill they come to the bottome of unhappinesse. 1602 Carew Cornwall 145 b, Upon the declyning of a hill the house is seated. 1612 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xiii. 139 Pliny, in the derivation of water, requireth one cubit of declining in 240 foot of proceeding. a 1703 Pomfret Poet. Wks. (1833) 9 A short and dubious bliss On the declining of a precipice. |
4. Of the sun, etc.: Descent towards setting; hence of the day, one's life, etc.: Drawing to its close; = decline n. 2.
| 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. I viij, Ye hicht and declyning of ye sone. a 1610 Healey Theophrastus xxvii. (1636) 92 The going downe of our strength, and the declining of our age. a 1662 Heylin Laud. i. 64 In the declining of the year 1616. |
5. Falling off, decay, decreasing, waning, etc.; = decline n. 1.
| 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. i. 131 Yf the sonne and therthe were of one lyke gretenesse, this shadowe shold haue none ende, but shold be all egal without declynyng. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 159 All that..write of the declining and ruine of the Romain Empire. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xix. (1748) 333 Rest content, nor our declining rue. 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 201 The next declining is, when law becomes now too straight for the secular manners, and those too loose for the cincture of law. |
6. Gram. = declension 4; formerly in wider sense: Inflexion, including conjugation.
| 1565–78 Cooper Thesaurus Introd., Nownes and verbes maye be knowne by their declining. 1599 Minsheu Span. Gram. 35 The verbes Irregular (in which is found hardnes and difficultie to the learner for their declining). 1612 Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 108 There are certain Adjectives which have two manner of endings and declinings..both in us and is. 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 82 The Article is of no Manner of Use for the Declining of Nouns. |
▪ II. deˈclining, ppl. a.
[-ing2.]
That declines: see the verb.
1. Having a downward inclination, sloping downwards; oblique.
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 14 It standeth in a place somewhat declyning. 1571 Digges Pantom. iii. Q b, This perpendicular..in directe solides falleth within the body, and vppon the base, but in declyning solides, it falleth without the bodies and bases. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 9/2 The height of the great Pyramid..is by its perpendicular..499 Feet, by its declining ascent, 693 Feet. 1792 Copper-plate Mag. No. 1 The mansion..is approached by a circular sweep through a declining lawn. 1802–3 tr. Pallas' Trav. (1812) I. 61 The Volga, which flows..through a gradually-declining valley. |
b. Dialling. Deviating from the prime vertical or meridian: see declination 9.
| 1593 T. Fale Dialling 4 All such plats as behold not some principall part of the world directly, are called Declining. The quantity of their declination is found out thus. 1640 Wilkins New Planet ii. (1707) 165 In all declining Dials, the Elevation of whose Pole is less than the Sun's greatest Declination. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. xvi. 25 All Declining Planes lie in some Azimuth, and cross one another in the Zenith and Nadir. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 311. |
2. Bending or bowing down; drooping.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. i. 119 With..tempting kisses, And with declining head. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 605 Pedicles declining, Flower-scales cloven. 1816 Byron Siege Cor. xix, Declining was his attitude. |
3. Of the sun: Sinking towards setting; transf. of the day: Drawing to its close.
| c 1620 T. Robinson M. Magd. 375 The Sun peep'd in with his declininge raye. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 273 Nor end their Work, but with declining Day. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. ix. 133 The beams of the declining sun glistering on the heaving surface. 1834 S. Rogers Poems 126 Till declining day, Thro' the green trellis shoots a crimson ray. |
4. Falling off from vigour, excellence, or prosperity; becoming weaker or worse; failing, waning, decaying (in health, fortunes, etc.); in a decline.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 240 In this declining Land. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks Introd., The long and still declining state of the Christian Commonweale. 1745 De Foe's English Tradesman (1841) I. vii. 53, I speak it to every declining tradesman. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 401 The declining health of the emperor Constantius. 1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. iii. 121 This desolation is no accident of a declining empire. |
b. Of a person's age, life, years, etc. (Mixture of senses 3 and 4.)
| 1615 Latham Falconry (1633) 31 Towards their declining age. 1697 Dryden æneid ix. 638 Thus looks the prop of my declining years! 1780 Johnson Lett. to Mrs. Thrale 18 Apr., Declining life is a very awful scene. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 7 Such a sadness was the natural effect of declining years and failing powers. |
5. That declines (jurisdiction); that refuses to accept, etc.
| 1639 Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. I. 155 A present excommunicating of all the declyning Bishops. |