Decline

·vt To cause to decrease or diminish.

II. Decline ·vt To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun.

III. Decline ·vt To bend downward; to bring down; to Depress; to cause to bend, or fall.

IV. Decline ·vi That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever.

V. Decline ·vt To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an Adjective.

VI. Decline ·vi A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, ·esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline.

VII. Decline ·vi To turn away; to Shun; to Refuse;

— the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.

VIII. Decline ·vi To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, ·etc.; to Condescend.

IX. Decline ·vi To turn or bend aside; to Deviate; to Stray; to Withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.

X. Decline ·vt 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.

XI. Decline ·vi 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.

XII. Decline ·vi 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.