Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-GEN'ER-A-CY, n. [See Degenerate, the verb.]

1. A growing worse or inferior; a decline in good qualities; or a state or being less valuable; as, the degeneracy of a plant.
2. In morals, decay of virtue; a growing worse; departure from the virtues of ancestors; desertion of that which is good. We speak of the degeneracy of men in modern times, or of the degeneracy of manners, of the age, of virtue, &c., sometimes without reason.
3. Poorness; meanness; as, a degeneracy of spirit.