\De*cline"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Declined}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Declining}.] [OE. declinen to bend down, lower, sink,
decline (a noun), F. d['e]cliner to decline, refuse, fr. L.
declinare to turn aside, inflect (a part of speech), avoid;
de- + clinare to incline; akin to E. lean. See {Lean}, v. i.]
1. To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction;
   to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness,
   despondency, etc.; to condescend. ``With declining head.''
   --Shak.
         He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his
         family.                               --Lady
                                               Hutchinson.
         Disdaining to decline, Slowly he falls, amidst
         triumphant cries.                     --Byron.
         The ground at length became broken and declined
         rapidly.                              --Sir W.
                                               Scott.
2. To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to
   tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or
   impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as,
   the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines;
   business declines.
         That empire must decline Whose chief support and
         sinews are of coin.                   --Waller.
         And presume to know . . . Who thrives, and who
         declines.                             --Shak.
3. To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw;
   as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that
   declines from sound morals.
         Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. --Ps.
                                               cxix. 157.
4. To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of
   accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.

\De*cline"\, v. t.
1. To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to
   bend, or fall.
         In melancholy deep, with head declined. --Thomson.
         And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste His weary
         wagon to the western vale.            --Spenser.
2. To cause to decrease or diminish. [Obs.] ``You have
   declined his means.'' --Beau. & Fl.
         He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline
         it.                                   --Burton.
3. To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse
   to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid;
   as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined
   any participation with them.
         Could I Decline this dreadful hour?   --Massinger.
4. (Gram.) To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of
   grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an
   adjective.
Note: Now restricted to such words as have case inflections;
      but formerly it was applied both to declension and
      conjugation.
            After the first declining of a noun and a verb.
                                               --Ascham.
5. To run through from first to last; to repeat like a
   schoolboy declining a noun. [R.] --Shak.

\De*cline"\, n. [F. d['e]clin. See {Decline}, v. i.]
1. A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or
   decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is
   tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the
   decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of
   virtue and religion.
         Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.
                                               --Swift.
2. (Med.) That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the
   symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a
   fever.
3. A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical
   faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary
   consumption; as, to die of a decline. --Dunglison.
Syn: {Decline}, {Decay}, {Consumption}.
Usage: Decline marks the first stage in a downward progress;
       decay indicates the second stage, and denotes a
       tendency to ultimate destruction; consumption marks a
       steady decay from an internal exhaustion of strength.
       The health may experience a decline from various
       causes at any period of life; it is naturally subject
       to decay with the advance of old age; consumption may
       take place at almost any period of life, from disease
       which wears out the constitution. In popular language
       decline is often used as synonymous with consumption.
       By a gradual decline, states and communities lose
       their strength and vigor; by progressive decay, they
       are stripped of their honor, stability, and greatness;
       by a consumption of their resources and vital energy,
       they are led rapidly on to a completion of their
       existence.