declivity
(dɪˈklɪvɪtɪ)
[ad. L. dēclīvitāt-em, f. dēclīv-is: see declive and -ity. Cf. F. déclivité (Dict. Acad. 1762).]
1. Downward slope or inclination (of a hill, etc.).
| 1612 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xiv. 147 It is the property of water ever to fall that way, where it findeth declivity. 1666 Phil. Trans. I. 361 With what declivity the Water runs out of the Euxine Sea into the Propontis. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. lxvii, Upon a mild declivity of hill. 1860 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 301 The declivity of most of the streets keeps them remarkably clean. |
2. concr. A downward slope.
| 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723) 280 They will not flow unless upon a Declivity. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, A grove which stood on the brow of a gentle declivity. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. viii. 58, I could see the stones..jumping down the declivities. |