decline
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: dĭ-klīnʹ
ipa: /dɪˈklaɪn/
rhymes: -aɪn
Forms: form: declines
form: declining
form: declined
form: declined
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: decline
form: decline
form: declined
form: decline
form: declinest
form: declined
form: declinedst
form: declines
form: declineth
form: declined
form: decline
form: declined
form: decline
form: declined
form: decline
form: -
form: declining
form: declined
Etymology: From Middle English declinen, and ultimately Latin declīnō (“to bend, turn aside, deflect, inflect, decline”, from de (“down”) + clīnō (“to bend, to incline”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean). The senses arrived from two separate pathways in Middle English:
* The grammatical sense came from Old English declīnian, which was borrowed directly from the Latin etymon.
* All senses except the grammatical sense were derived from those of Old French decliner. Old French itself borrowed the verb from Latin.
Senses: examples: text: The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
glosses: To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
examples: text: My health declined in winter.
text: After her sother died, Connie began to decline noticeably.
ref: 1982 February 13, Nancy Walker, “Connie”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 10:
glosses: To become weaker or worse.
examples: text: in melancholy site, with head declined
ref: a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
text: And now faire Phoebus gan decline in hast / His weary wagon to the Westerne vale.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10:
glosses: To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
examples: text: You have declin'd his means.
ref: 1612–1613, Nathan Field, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Honest Mans Fortune”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii:
text: He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
glosses: To cause to decrease or diminish.
examples: text: a line that declines from straightness
text: conduct that declines from sound morals
text: Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 99:157:
glosses: To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
examples: text: Could I decline this dreadful hour?
ref: 1626, Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor:
text: “[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: On reflection I think I will decline your generous offer.
glosses: To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
synonyms: declense
qualifier: adjectives and pronouns
glosses: To inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
raw_tags: of substantives
examples: text: after the first declining of a noun and a verb
ref: 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, 1st edition:
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
synonyms: declense
glosses: To recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
examples: text: Decline all this, and see what now thou art. For happy wife, a most distressed widow;
For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
For queen , a very caitiff crown'd with care[…]
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
glosses: To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
examples: text: The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
Derived terms: declension
declinability
declinable
declination
decliningly
redecline
Texas phoenix palm decline
undeclined
undeclining
Related terms: climate
cline
declivity
incline
recline