Decline — Defs

01 v. i. To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to cond…

imp. & p. p. Declined; p. pr. & vb. n. Declining

1.
To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend.
“He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family.” — Lady Hutchinson.

“Disdaining to decline, Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries.” — Byron.

“The ground at length became broken and declined rapidly.” — Sir W. Scott.
2.
To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines.
“That empire must decline Whose chief support and sinews are of coin.” — Waller.

“And presume to know . . . Who thrives, and who declines.” — Shak.
3.
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.
“Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.” — Ps. cxix. 157.
4.
To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.

02 v. t. To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.

1.
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
“In melancholy deep, with head declined.” — Thomson.

“And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste His weary wagon to the western vale.” — Spenser.
2.
To cause to decrease or diminish.[Obs.]
“He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.” — Burton.
3.
To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them.
“Could I Decline this dreadful hour?” — Massinger.
4.
To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective.(Gram.)
“After the first declining of a noun and a verb.” — Ascham.
5.
To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.[R.]

03 n. A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction …

1.
A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion.
“Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.” — Swift.
2.
That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever.(Med.)
3.
A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline.

Syn. Decline, Decay, Consumption.

Decline marks the first stage in a downward progress; decay indicates the second stage, and denotes a tendency to ultimate destruction; consumption marks a steady decay from an internal exhaustion of strength. The health may experience a decline from various causes at any period of life; it is naturally subject to decay with the advance of old age; consumption may take place at almost any period of life, from disease which wears out the constitution. In popular language decline is often used as synonymous with consumption. By a gradual decline, states and communities lose their strength and vigor; by progressive decay, they are stripped of their honor, stability, and greatness; by a consumption of their resources and vital energy, they are led rapidly on to a completion of their existence.