dē-cresco, crēvi, crētum, 3, v. n.
I Orig., to grow less, grow shorter, decrease, wane (as the moon, bodies of water, the length of the day, etc.): ostreae cum luna pariter crescunt pariterque decrescunt, * Cic. Div. 2, 14, 33: crescunt loca decrescentibus undis, Ov. M. 1, 345; cf.: aequora, id. ib. 2, 292; and: decrescentia flumina, * Hor. Od. 4, 7, 3: die decrescente (coupled with quo rursus crescente), Plin. 2, 59, 60, § 151: ubi febris fuit atque decrevit, Cels. 3, 6; cf.: morbus, id. ib. 20 al.: nocte dieque decretum et auctum, Laev. ap. Prisc. p. 869 P.; of the waters of the flood, Vulg. Gen. 8, 5.—Hence,
II In gen., to decrease, become less, diminish : uncus aratri Ferreus occulte decrescit in arvis, i. e. wears away , Lucr. 1, 315; id. 5, 536; Quint. 5, 12, 14; 9, 4, 23: admiratio decrescit, id. 1, 3, 5: metus matrum, Sil. 7, 82 et saep.: ut corpora quamlibet ardua et excelsa, procerioribus admota decrescant, i. e. seem smaller , Plin. Pan. 61, 2: decrescente reditu (agelli) etiam pretium minuit, Plin. Ep. 6, 3, 1.—
b Poet., of the gradual disappearance of places as one removes farther from them, Stat. Ach. 2, 308; Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1, 189.—*
B Pregn., to pass away by diminution; to vanish, disappear : cornua decrescunt, etc., Ov. M. 1, 740.