Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-CLINE', v.t.

1. To bend downward; to bring down. In melancholy deep, with head declined. – Thomson.
2. To bend to one side; to move from a fixed point or right line.
3. To shun or avoid; to refuse; not to engage in; to be cautious not to do or interfere; not to accept or comply with; as, he declined the contest; he declined the offer; he declined the business or pursuit.
4. To inflect; to change the termination of a word, for forming the oblique cases; as, Dominus, Domini, Domino, Dominum, Domine.