Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-COR'TI-CATE, v.t. [L. decortico; de and cortex, bark.]

To strip off bark; to peel; to husk; to take off the exterior coat; as, to decorticate barley. Arbuthnot.

DE-COR'TI-CA-TED, pp.

Stripped of bark; peeled; husked.

DE-COR'TI-CA-TING, ppr.

Stripping off bark or the external coat; peeling.

DE-COR-TI-CA'TION, n.

The act of stripping off bark or husk.

DE-CO'RUM, n. [L. from deceo, to become. See Decency.]

1. Propriety of speech or behavior; suitableness of speech and behavior, to one's own character, and to the characters present, or to the place and occasion; seemliness; decency; opposed to rudeness, licentiousness, or levity. To speak and behave with decorum is essential to good breeding.
2. In architecture, the suitableness of a building, and of its parts and ornaments, to its place and uses.

DE-COY', n.

1. Any thing intended to lead into a snare; any lure or allurement that deceives and misleads into evil, danger, or the power of an enemy.
2. A place for catching wild fowls.

DE-COY', v.t. [D. kooi, a cabin, berth, bed, fold, cage, decoy; kooijen, to lie, to bed.]

To lead or lure by artifice into a snare, with a view to catch; to draw into any situation to be taken by a foe; to entrap by any means which deceive. The fowler decoys ducks into a net. Troops may be decoyed into an ambush. One ship decoys another within reach of her shot.

DE-COY'-DUCK, n.

A duck employed to draw others into a net or situation to be taken.

DE-COY'ED, pp.

Lured or drawn into a snare or net; allured into danger by deception.

DE-COY'ING, ppr.

Luring into a snare or net by deception; leading into evil or danger.

DE-COY'-MAN, n.

A man employed in decoying and catching fowls.

DE-CREASE', n.

1. A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue; a decrease of strength.
2. The wane of the moon; the gradual diminution of the visible face of the moon from the full to the change.

DE-CREASE', v.i. [L. decresco; de and cresco, to grow; Fr. decroître; It. decrescere; Sp. decrecer; Arm. digrisgi. See Grow.]

To become less; to be diminished gradually, in extent, bulk, quantity, or amount, or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, the days decrease in length from June to December. He must increase, but I must decrease. John iii.

DE-CREASE', v.t.

To lessen; to make smaller in dimensions, amount, quality or excellence, &c.; to diminish gradually or by small deductions; as, extravagance decreases the means of charity; every payment decreases a debt; intemperance decreases the strength and powers of life.

DE-CREAS'ED, pp.

Lessened; diminished.

DE-CREAS'ING, ppr.

Becoming less; diminishing; waning.

DE-CREAS'ING-LY, adv.

By diminishing.

DE-CREE', n. [L. decretum, from decerno, to judge; de and cerno, to judge, to divide; Fr. decret; It. and Sp. decreto.]

1. Judicial decision, or determination of a litigated cause; as, a decree of the court of chancery. The decision of a court of equity is called a decree; that of a court of law, a judgment.
2. In the civil law, a determination or judgment of the emperor on a suit between parties. Encyc.
3. An edict or law made by a council for regulating any business within their jurisdiction; as, the decrees of ecclesiastical councils. Encyc.
4. In general, an order, edict or law made by a superior as a rule to govern inferiors. There went a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. Luke ii.
5. Established law, or rule. He made a decree for the rain. Job xxviii.
6. In theology, predetermined purpose of God; the purpose or determination of an immutable Being, whose plan of operations is, like himself, unchangeable.

DE-CREE', v.t.

1. To determine judicially; to resolve by sentence; as, the court decreed that the property should be restored; or they decreed a restoration of the property.
2. To determine or resolve legislatively; to fix or appoint; to set or constitute by edict or in purpose. Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established. Job xxii. Let us not be solicitous to know what God has decreed concerning us. Anon.

DE-CREED', pp.

Determined judicially; resolved; appointed; established in purpose.

DE-CREE'ING, ppr.

Determining; resolving; appointing; ordering.

DEC'RE-MENT, n. [L. decrementum, from decresco. See Decrease.]

1. Decrease; waste; the state of becoming less gradually. Rocks and mountains suffer a continual decrement. Woodward.
2. The quantity lost by gradual diminution, or waste.
3. In heraldry, the wane of the moon.
4. In crystalography, a successive diminution of the lamene of molecules, applied to the faces of the primitive form, by which the secondary forms are supposed to be produced. Haüy.

DE-CREP'IT, a. [L. decrepitus, from de and crepo, to break.]

Broken down with age; wasted or worn by the infirmities of old age; being in the last stage of decay; weakened by age. Milton. Pope.

DE-CREP'IT-ATE, v.i.

To crackle, as salts when roasting.

DE-CREP'IT-ATE, v.t. [L. decrepo, to break or burst, to crackle; de and crepo.]

To roast or calcine in a strong heat, with a continual bursting or crackling of the substance; as, to decrepitate salt.