\Dec`li*na"tion\, n. [L. declinatio a bending aside,
an avoiding: cf. F. d['e]clination a decadence. See
{Declension}.]
1. The act or state of bending downward; inclination; as,
   declination of the head.
2. The act or state of falling off or declining from
   excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline.
   ``The declination of monarchy.'' --Bacon.
         Summer . . . is not looked on as a time Of
         declination or decay.                 --Waller.
3. The act of deviating or turning aside; oblique motion;
   obliquity; withdrawal.
         The declination of atoms in their descent.
                                               --Bentley.
         Every declination and violation of the rules.
                                               --South.
4. The act or state of declining or refusing; withdrawal;
   refusal; averseness.
         The queen's declination from marriage. --Stow.
5. (Astron.) The angular distance of any object from the
   celestial equator, either northward or southward.
6. (Dialing) The arc of the horizon, contained between the
   vertical plane and the prime vertical circle, if reckoned
   from the east or west, or between the meridian and the
   plane, reckoned from the north or south.
7. (Gram.) The act of inflecting a word; declension. See
   {Decline}, v. t., 4.
{Angle of declination}, the angle made by a descending line,
   or plane, with a horizontal plane.
{Circle of declination}, a circle parallel to the celestial
   equator.
{Declination compass} (Physics), a compass arranged for
   finding the declination of the magnetic needle.
{Declination of the compass} or {needle}, the horizontal
   angle which the magnetic needle makes with the true
   north-and-south line.