Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DI-LAP'I-DA-TION, n.

1. Ecclesiastical waste; a voluntary wasting or suffering to go to decay any building in possession of an incumbent. Dilapidation is voluntary or active, when an incumbent pulls down a building; permissive or passive, when he suffers it to decay and neglects to repair it. Dilapidation extends to the waste or destruction of wood, and other property of the church. – Blackstone.
2. Destruction; demolition; decay; ruin. – Bryant.
3. Peculation. – Stephens.