Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIM-I-NU'TION, n. [L. diminutio.]

1. The act of lessening; a making smaller; opposed to augmentation; as, the diminution of size, of wealth, of power, of safety.
2. The state of becoming or appearing less; opposed to increase; as, the diminution of the apparent diameter of a receding body.
3. Discredit; loss of dignity; degradation. – Philips.
4. Deprivation of dignity; a lessening of estimation. – Addison.
5. In architecture, the contraction of the upper part of a column, by which its diameter is made less than that of the lower part.
6. In music, the imitation of or reply to a subject in notes of half the length or value of those of the subject itself. – Busby.