\De*coc"tion\, n. [F. d['e]coction, L. decoctio.]
1. The act or process of boiling anything in a watery fluid
   to extract its virtues.
         In decoction . . . it either purgeth at the top or
         settleth at the bottom.               --Bacon.
2. An extract got from a body by boiling it in water.
         If the plant be boiled in water, the strained liquor
         is called the decoction of the plant. --Arbuthnot.
         In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where
         there is merely steeping.             --Latham.