▪ I. decline, n.
(dɪˈklaɪn)
Also 4 declyn, 5 declyne.
[a. F. déclin, f. décliner to decline.]
1. The process of declining or sinking to a weaker or inferior condition; gradual loss of force, vigour, vitality, or excellence of quality; falling off, decay, diminution, deterioration. on the decline: in a declining state; declining, falling off.
| a 1327 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 154 Al hit cometh in declyn this gigelotes geren. c 1430 Lydg. Thebes iii. (R.), The high noblesse shall draw to decline Of Greekes blood. 1638 C. Aleyn Hist. Hen. VII, 138 When Bodies cease to grow, 'tis the presage Of a decline to their decrepit Age. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 78 ¶4 The Lady had actually lost one Eye, and the other was very much upon the Decline. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxviii, The decline of my daughter's health. 1776 Gibbon (title), History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 436 The ascendancy, decline, and final overthrow of the Mahrattas. 1892 Law Times XCII. 138/1 It is said that reading in barristers' chambers is on the decline. |
b. Fallen or sunken condition. rare.
| 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. I. 108 In the lowest Decline of Oppression and Disgrace, he was in no degree less worthy of Veneration than when in his highest Glory. |
c. A gradual failure of the physical powers, as in the later years of life.
| 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 85/1 Numa..wasted away insensibly with old age and a gentle decline. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 545 A gradual decline had apparently begun. |
d. Any disease in which the bodily strength gradually fails; esp. tubercular phthisis, consumption.
| 1783 Gentl. Mag. LIII. ii. 1066 [Died] at his brother's at Enfield, of a deep decline, by bursting a blood-vessel in coughing. 1790 F. Burney Diary Dec., A general opinion that I was falling into a decline. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 285 He fell into a rapid decline, and died prematurely. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. i, She said one of his sisters was like to die of decline. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., Decline..applied to the later stages of phthisis pulmonalis. Also, a term for the condition formerly called Tabes. |
e. Comm. A downward movement or gradual fall in price or value.
| 1885 Manch. Guardian 20 July 5/5 The decline in the value of labour has not hitherto kept pace with that of commodities and property. 1887 Daily News 23 Feb. 2/6, 560 bags Demerara syrups at 6d decline. 1893 Ibid. 25 Dec. 7/3 The market was weak, but declines were unimportant. |
2. Of the sun or day: The action of sinking towards its setting or close.
| 14.. Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. 103 Westryng or drawyng to declyne. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. (1861) 111 Where Phœbus..kisses Thetis in the days decline. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 792 This Evening from the Sun's decline arriv'd. 1827 Pollok Course T. x, At dawn, at mid-day, and decline. |
b. In the decline of life there is a mixture of senses 1 and 2.
| 1711 Steele Spect. No. 2 ¶5 A Gentleman who according to his Years should be in the Decline of his Life. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 269 The king and his heir were nearly of the same age. Both were approaching the decline of life. |
3. A downward incline, a slope. rare.
| 1538 Leland Itin. II. 46 Farington, standing in a stony Ground in the Decline of an Hille. 1844 Mech. Mag. XL. 397 The frightful precipitation of a railway train down a decline. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 237 §1 On the declines, more precipitous than Swiss terraces, manioc and cereals grow luxuriantly. |
▪ II. decline, v.
(dɪˈklaɪn)
Also 4–6 declyne.
[a. F. décline-r (Chans. Roland 11th c.), ad. L. dēclīnāre to turn or bend away or aside from the straight course, etc., f. de- I. 2 + -clīnāre (in comb.) to bend, cognate with Gr. κλίν-ειν to bend, and Teut. *hlinôjan, OSax. hlinôn to lean. In the sense-development the prefix de- has also been taken in the sense ‘down’, of which there is little trace in L. dēclīnāre.]
I. Intransitive senses.
* To turn aside, deviate.
† 1. a. To turn or bend aside; to deviate (from the straight course); to turn away. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 333 Now rech I neuer for to declyne, Ne how fer of folde þat man me fleme. 14.. Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. 122 No thyng may be hyd from thy presence Ne from thyne eye declyne ne astart. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 65/4 Dauid said what haue I doo..and declyned fro hys brother to other of the peple. 1555 Eden Decades 1 Colonus directynge his visage towarde the weste..declining somwhat towarde the left hande, sayled on forwarde xxxiii. dayes. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 291 Againe night we declined towards Gaza. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 62 A line..much declining from the Object. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 57 Here we began to decline from the Sea-Coast. 1778 R. Lowth Transl. Isaiah (ed. 12) 55 Turn aside from the way; decline from the straight path. 1839 Lingard Hist. Eng. (ed. 4) XI. 286 The few individuals who ventured abroad..when they met, declined on opposite sides, to avoid the contact of each other. |
† b. To turn aside from (anything) so as to avoid it: cf. the trans. sense in 12. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 93 b, We can not beare y⊇ presence of our neyghbour..but declyne from his company. 1563 Foxe A. & M. 723 b, Naturally euery creature declineth gladly from that thyng which goth about to hurt it. |
† 2. a. Astron. and Geog. To deviate, diverge, or fall away from the equator (formerly also, from the ecliptic); to have declination (sense 7). Obs.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §21 Þat on half [of the Zodiac] declinith sowthward, & þat other northward. Ibid. ii. §17 The Ecliptic lyne: fro which lyne alle Planetes som tyme declinen north or south. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 200 Java is an Ile..declining seven degrees from the æquator towards the Antarctique Pole. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 331 At London the least Twilight is when the Sun declines from the Equator towards the South 6{supd} 7{p}. |
† b. Dialling. Of a vertical plane: To have an aspect oblique to the prime vertical or to the meridian; to have declination (sense 9). Obs.
| 1593 T. Fale Dialling 4 The East and West are not said to decline, because the declination is accounted from the south and North to the direct East and West points. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. x. 15 AB is a Wall or Plane declining East..so much as the Wall bendeth from the East Azimuth, so much doth his Pole at P decline or bend from the Meridian. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 311 The South Erect Plane, declining more or less towards the East or West. |
† c. Of the magnetic needle: To deviate from the true north and south line; cf. declination 8.
| 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 180 In that place the needle declin'd 22 degrees from the North, towards the West. 1674 Boyle Excell. Theol. ii. v. 215 The magnetick needle not onely declining in many places from the true points of N. and S. but..varying in tract of time its declination in the self-same place. |
† 3. fig. a. To turn aside in conduct; esp. to swerve or fall away (from rectitude, duty, allegiance, instructions, etc.). Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. vii. 145 Of hem þat eschewen and declinen fro vices and taken þe weye of vertue. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione i. xx. 24 Ner lete hem not liȝtly decline to outwarde consolacions. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 1 §2 Persones..which shall hereafter declyne from..their seid alliegeaunce. ? 1507 Communyc. B iij, Alas why..so unkyndly from hym declyne That is our god so gracyous. 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 31 Frome the highest to the lowest, all were declined frome the. a 1580 Farrant's Anthem, ‘Lord, for thy tender mercies' sake’, Give us grace to amend our sinful lives, to decline from sin and incline to virtue. 1611 Bible Ps. cxix. 157 Yet doe I not decline from thy testimonies. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended vi. 352 They declined from the worship of this Eternal Invisible God. 1749 F. Smith Voy. II. 201 He had formed a Design..of declining from his Instructions. |
† b. To turn aside from the subject, in speaking or writing; to digress. Obs.
| 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) N v b, Here I have declined by occasion, but now to our intent. 1600 Holland Livy ix. xvii. 325 a, I have nothing lesse sought..than to digresse and decline [declinarem] more than was needfull, from the order and course of mine historie. |
† c. Of things: To diverge, deviate (in character, excellence, etc.) from. Obs.
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 12 There is a Bannia, which little declines from the state of a Temple. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 174 Nor doth thy last alleaged excuse..decline any whit from thy other reasons. |
† 4. fig. To incline or lean to. Obs.
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., It is set in the myddes of the brest, nat declynynge to one parte more than to another. 1580 Frampton Monardes' Med. agst. Venome 127 The Bezaar stone is..full of spottes, declining to the colour of a sad blewe. ― Dial. Yron 151 b, Yron..doth more decline to be hot than colde. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 44 Your weeping sister is no wife of mine..Farre more, farre more, to you doe I decline. a 1636 Holland (Webster), That purple luster..declineth in the end to the color of wine. 1671 tr. Palafox's Conq. China xi. 230 It was quickly perceived to which side the victory declined. |
¶ Not to consent or agree (to do something); to refuse. See sense 13.
** To slope, incline, or bend downward.
5. To deviate from the horizontal or vertical position; to have a downward inclination, to slant or slope downward.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 298 On south and este se that it [the land] faire enclyne..But from the colde Septemptrion declyne. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 159 Some plain place..declining by the space of some four or five furlongs. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 152 The ground on each side declining gently. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 258 The way..having first mounted gently a pleasant slope declined again. 1843 Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 5 Table land which..gradually declines in the higher latitudes of the north. |
6. To bend down, bow down, droop.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 2289 (Dubl. MS.) ‘My louely Lord’, quod þe lede, and law he declynes. 1598 Rowlands Betraying of Christ 4 As a fruitfull tree the more it is fruitladen, the more it declineth. a 1612 Donne Biathan. (1644) 190 Our heads decline after our death by the slackness of the sinews and muscles. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ii. 49 The wearisome creatures of the world declining to their rest. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. viii, His eyes were eagerly fixed on Sophia, and hers declining towards the ground. 1891 T. Hardy Tess I. 10 Declining from his sitting position..[he] stretched himself..among the daisies. |
† 7. a. To come down, fall, descend, sink. Obs.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 2714 (Ashm. MS.) He þat enhansis him to heȝe, þe heldire he declynes. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 500 His Sword Which was declining on the Milkie head Of Reuerend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick. |
† b. To descend in lineage. Obs. rare.
| 1598 Yong Diana 98 On th' one side Dukes most excellent decline, And from the other scepter, throne, and crowne. |
8. a. Of the sun or other heavenly body: To descend in the sky after culmination; to sink towards setting.
| c 1430 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. xcii, Er that thy bemes go up to declyne, And er that thou now go fro us adoune. 1513 Douglas æneis x. xiv. 194 Be this the son declynyt was almost. 1607 Rowlands Fam. Hist. 22 The Sun declines, day ancient grows. 1812 Woodhouse Astron. xxx. 299 As the Moon, having passed the meridian, declines. 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. ii, The sun was beginning to decline. |
b. transf. Said of the day (evening, etc.), also fig. of one's life: To draw towards its close. (Often with mixture of sense 10.)
| 1697 [see declining ppl. a. 3]. 1704 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 108 When People decline in Years, there are some extraordinary Means requisite. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 146 The day declined. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 152/1 The summer was now declining. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxi. 94 The day declines. Forth, fair bride. |
9. fig. To fall morally or in dignity, to sink (to evil courses, etc., or to an unworthy object). (Now only literary, and after Shakes.)
| [c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxiv. 279 (Add. MS.) But that in no wise from hens forward he declyn to synne agayn. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 485 Many of the elect do decline to vices.] 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 50 Oh Hamlet, what a falling off was there, From me, whose loue was of that dignity..and to decline Vpon a wretch, whose Naturall gifts were poore To those of mine. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 97 Yet somtimes Nations will decline so low From vertue. 1691 E. Taylor Behmen's Theos. Philos. xx. 30 The direful shameful state Adam declined into. 1708 Swift Sent. Church of Eng. Man, He declines..from his office of presiding over the whole, to be the head of a party. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 43 Having known me—to decline On a range of lower feelings and a narrower heart than mine! |
10. fig. To fall off or fail in force, vigour, or vitality; to decay, wane, diminish, decrease; to fall from prosperity or excellence, to deteriorate.
| 1530 Palsgr. 508/2 Whan thynges be at the hyghest, than they begyn to declyne. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 515 After the subuersion of Hierusalem the Romane Empire began to decline. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 182 Your health, which I feare is already declining. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. i. 197 Who's like to rise, Who thriues, and who declines. 1687 Waller (J.), That empire must decline, Whose chief support and sinews are of coin. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 435 When Autumnal Warmth declines. 1728 Young Love Fame v. 517 She grants, indeed, a lady may decline (All ladies but herself) at ninety-nine. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 675 The net territorial revenues..instead of increasing, had actually declined. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxvi, Eva after this declined rapidly: there was no more any doubt of the event. 1888 M. Robertson Lombard St. Myst. iv, Mr. Alldis had declined considerably in his estimation. |
II. Transitive senses.
* To cause to turn aside, to avert; to turn aside from, avoid, refuse.
† 11. To turn aside (lit. and fig.): a. To avert.
| c 1430 Lydg. Bochas vi. iv. (1554) 151 a, For remedies..Was prouided theyr malice to declyne. 1606 Holland Sueton. Annot. 25 Counterfeiting a woman, thereby to decline suspicion. 1638 Cowley Love's Riddle v, Thanks to the juster Deities for declining From both the Danger, and from me the Sin. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 422 Here Johnson lies: could physic fence Death's dart, Sure death had been declined by his art. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 31 ¶5 Subterfuges and evasions are sought to decline the pressure of resistless arguments. |
† b. To turn (a person) aside from or to a course of conduct, from duty, etc.; to divert. Obs.
| a 1555 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 230 Of them which decline their ear from hearing the law of God. 1610 Donne Pseudo Martyr 185 The immensnesse..auerts me from beleeuing it to bee just, so doeth this also decline me that they will not bee brought to tell vs, etc. 1617 Beaum. & Fl. Valent. iii. i, Nor any way decline you to discredit. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 175 When I w{supd} doe good I am in the meane while declined to evill. c 1634 Strafford in Browning Life (1890) 129 This alliance shall not decline me from those more sovereign duties I owe my master. 1658 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 207 Sundry disputes with sinewy Arguments to decline my opinion. |
† c. In physical sense: To cause to deviate, deflect (from a straight course, etc.). Obs.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. ii. 59 Contrary poles or faces attract each other, as the North the South, and the like decline each other, as the North the North. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. 71 A Byas, that may decline it a little from a straight Line. Ibid. 137 How can he conceive, that any parcel of dead matter can spontaneously divert and decline it self from the line of its motion. |
† d. refl. To withdraw oneself, turn away. Obs.
| a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 49 Rawleigh..undertook a new peregrination, to leave..the Court..and, by declining himself, and by absence, to expell his, and the passion of his enemies. |
† 12. To turn aside from; to get or keep out of the way of; to avoid, shun. Obs. (or merged in 13.)
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4263 All þat ouire mesure is to mekill emell we declyne. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 9 What company to vse, & whome to declyne and eschewe. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 452 Except they meet them in some path way where the man cannot decline the Beast, nor the Beast the Man. 1656 Trapp Comm. Matt. vii. 13 Certain dangerous rocks..carefully to be declined. 1705 C. Purshall Mech. Macrocosm 145 In Autumn, when the Sun declines us, and its Tendency is towards the Southern Hemisphere. a 1711 Ken Preparatives Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 49 Guilty sinners, self-condemn'd, Despairing to decline their Fate. 1761 New Companion Fest. & Fasts xx. §2. 177 When the fire of persecution breaks out among us, we have our Lord's permission by all prudent and honourable methods to decline it. |
13. a. To turn away from (anything suggested or presenting itself) as from a thing which one is unwilling to take up, undertake, or engage in; to withhold oneself from; not to consent to engage in, practise, or do. Now only with nouns of action: to decline a discussion, contest, challenge, etc.: cf. c.
| 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 58 That S{supr} Arthur Savage should humbly acknowledge that he had committed a great offence..S{supr} Arthur declyned this acknowledgement. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §6, I have no Genius to disputes in Religion, and have often thought it wisedome to decline them. 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. (1691) 320 Declining all military means of settling and securing Ireland in peace and plenty. c 1750 Johnson, Melissa..gained the victory by declining the contest. 1754 Richardson Grandison I. xxviii. 206 What must the man have been that had declined his aid in a distress so alarming. 1786 Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 187 Bristow, declining the violent attempt on the life of Almas Ali, deceitfully ordered by the said Warren Hastings. 1793 ― Conduct of Minority ibid. I. 617 To throw an odium upon those who were obliged to decline the cause of justice from their impossibility of supporting a cause which they approve. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) I. 11 The fisherman..at one moment was on the point of setting out for Brighton immediately, and the next declined it till the morning. 1824 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 407, I decline all newspaper controversy. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv, They far more readily forgive a commander who loses a battle than a commander who declines one. |
b. Not to consent or agree to doing, or to do (something suggested, asked, etc.); hence, practically = refuse: but without the notion of active repulse or rejection conveyed by the latter word, and therefore a milder and more courteous expression. (Constr. vbl. n., inf.; also absol. or intr.)
| a 1691 Boyle (J.), That would not be to render a reason of the thing proposed, but, in effect, to decline rendering any. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant 288, I cannot reasonably decline giving Credit to a Thing..so often confirm'd. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 143 ¶14 Provided he declines to tread in their footsteps. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xvi. xv. 314, I declined satisfying his curiosity. 1891 Pall Mall G. 12 Jan. 3/2 The Archbishop..declined to accept their apology. Mod. He was invited, but declined. Shall we accept or decline? |
c. Not to accept (something offered); implying polite or courteous refusal.
| c 1712 Addison (J.), She generously declined them [the glories of this world], because she saw the acceptance of them was inconsistent with religion. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (L.), The squire said they could not decently decline his visit. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike vii. 84 Being aware of this, Allen would have declined the gift. 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxxiii. 312 Ariæus declined the offer of the Greeks. 1884 G. Allen Philistia III. 18 Writing magazine articles..which were invariably declined with thanks. |
d. Chess. To refuse to take a piece or pawn offered in (a gambit).
| [1833 W. Lewis Progr. Less. Chess (ed. 2) 138 King's Gambit... The best move for the Black is to take your K.B.P.; but he may decline doing so.] 1847 H. Staunton Chess-Player's Handbk. iv. x. 347 (heading) The gambit declined. 1875 G. H. D. Gossip Chess-Player's Man. 705 The Queen's Gambit accepted and declined. 1899 E. E. Cunnington How to play Chess 48 P–QKt4, offering the sacrifice of a P. to get an attack. Black need not take it (he may retreat the B to Kt3), in which case the Opening is called the Evans declined. |
† 14. Sc. Law. To refuse, disown, or formally object to the jurisdiction of (a judge or court). Cf. declinator2, declinature 1. ? Obs.
| c 1450 Henryson Tale of Dog 49 Thairfoir as juge suspect, I yow declyne. 1638 Short Relat. State Kirk Scotl. 11 The Supplicants declined the Bishops from being their Iudges, as beeing now their parties. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 193 He would not appear, but declined the King and his council, who, he said, were not proper judges of matters of doctrine. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 18 A judge may be declined, i.e. his jurisdiction disowned judicially, 1. ratione causæ, from his incompetency to the special cause brought before him. 1861 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Declinature, A judge who is a partner in a trading company may be declined in a question where the interest of that company is concerned. |
† 15. To abandon, forsake, give up (a practice).
| 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. 368 As for the interest of these poorer Irish, it is manifestly to be transmuted into English..so as to decline their language. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. ii. 74 The Christians had declin'd the Simplicity of their own Religion and grew Curious and Wanton. 1699 Bentley Phal. 317 Herodotus, Dionysius Halic. etc. had great reason to decline the use of their vernacular Tongue, as improper for History. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiv. viii, Having acquired a very good fortune, he had lately declined his business. |
** To cause to bend down, descend, or slope.
16. a. To bend down, bow down, lean.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 5322 And hitterly on ilk side his heued he declines. a 1547 Surrey Aeneid iv. 239 Ne doth decline to the swete sleepe her eyes. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 55 As they can verie hardly eyther stoupe downe, or decline them selues to the grounde. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iv. v. (1715) 202 Another Token of Dejection was, to decline their Heads upon their Hands. 1814 Southey Roderick xvii, He sate with folded arms and head declined Upon his breast. 1856 Bryant Poems, Summer Wind 11 The clover droops..and declines its blooms. |
† b. To move or direct obliquely downwards.
| 15.. Spenser (J.), And now fair Phœbus 'gan decline in haste, His weary waggon to the western vale. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 145 His good old Sire with sorrow to the tomb Declines his trembling steps. |
† 17. To lower, bring down, depress, bring low, degrade, debase. lit. and fig. Obs.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 2334, I þar pompe and þaire pride to poudire declined. 1599 Daniel Let. Octavia Wks. 1717 I. 72 For I could never think the aspiring Mind Of worthy and victorious Anthony, Could be by such a Syren so declin'd. 1621 Fletcher Isl. Princess i. i, A dull labour that declines a gentleman. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. I, Wks. (1711) 15 To decline the rank growth of these usurpers. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 131 The more they run Northward, the more they..raise the Septentrional Pole, and decline the Austral. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art I. 236 To elevate or decline the glass according to the sun's altitude. |
18. To cause to slant or slope, incline downwards.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 30 Those partes beyng also flat..but somewhat inward declined with all. 1812 J. J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 149 Built on a plain pretty much declined towards the street. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §23. 113 The uprightness of the form declined against the marble ledge. |
† 19. To undervalue, disparage, depreciate. Obs.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xi. ix, She can not declyne The noble science, whiche, after poverte, Maye bryng a man agayne to dignitie. 1626 Shirley Brothers i. i, Unless you disaffect His person, or decline his education. 1649 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) I. 143 What is here said is not with intencion to undervallue or decline y⊇ Presbiterians. |
*** To inflect grammatically.
20. a. Gram. To inflect (a noun, adjective, or pronoun) through its different cases; to go through or recite in order the cases of. (Cf. declension 4.)
Also used more widely, or loosely, of verbs (for which the proper word is conjugate).
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 327 (Mätz.) Ȝif þou canst declyne þilke tweye names and speke Latyn. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. xviii. xc. (1495) 839 Rinoceron is declined, hic Rinoceron, huius Rinocerontis. 1530 Palsgr. 65 Of whiche [ix partes of speche] v be declined, that is to say varie their last letters: article, nowne, pronowne, verbe and participle. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. vi. (1627) 56 Of these eight parts, the foure first onely are such as may be declined. 1654 Trapp Comm. Ps. xvi. 4 It was the Serpents grammar that first taught man to decline God in the plurall number. a 1843 Southey Doctor (1862) 40 That verb is eternally being declined. 1871 Roby Lat. Gram. I. §339 The substantive stems in -a (chiefly feminine), and the feminine form of those adjectives which have stems in -o, are declined alike. |
† b. transf. To say or recite formally or in definite order. Obs.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 97 Decline all this, and see what now thou art. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 55 Ile declin the whole question. 1627 Drayton Agincourt 201 That you no harsh, nor shallow rimes decline, Vpon that day wherein you shall read mine. |