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Becoming less by gradual diminution; decreasing; as, a decrescent moon.

A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular or organs; hereditary degradation of type.

A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and banks, by the action of water, fro

To dissolve gradually and become liquid by attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies. In very moist air crystals of strontites deliquesce. Black.

To unfold gradually, as a flower from a bud; hence, to bring through a succession of states or stages, each of which is preparatory to the next; to form or expand by a process of growth; to cause to change gradually from an embryo, or a lower state, to a higher state or form of being; as, sunshine and rain develop the…

The act of developing or disclosing that which is unknown; a gradual unfolding process by which anything is developed, as a plan or method, or an image upon a photographic plate; gradual advancement or growth through a series of progressive changes; also, the result of developing, or a developed state. A new developmen…

To disappear gradually in another surface, as where moldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.

The gradual formation or production of organs or parts by a process of evolution or development, as when the seed develops the root and the stem, the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds; or in animal life, when the germ evolves the digestive and other organs and members, or when the animals as the…

In a gradually diminishing manner; with abatement of tone; decrescendo; -- expressed on the staff by Dim., or Dimin., or the sign.

To cease to appear or to be perceived; to pass from view, gradually or suddenly; to vanish; to be no longer seen; as, darkness disappears at the approach of light; a ship disappears as she sails from port.

arts and disappear; to waste away; to scatter; to disperse; to vanish; as, a fog or cloud gradually dissipates before the rays or heat of the sun; the heat of a body dissipates.

p; vanishing. -- Dis*solv"ing*ly, adv. Dissolving view, a picture which grows dim and is gradually replaced by another on the same field; -- an effect produced by magic lanterns.

Gradual cessation of use or custom; neglect of use; disuse. [R.] Hooker.

eceding farther and farther from each other, as lines radiating from one point; deviating gradually from a given direction; -- opposed to convergent.

n the figure (see also Karyokinesis). At the same time the protoplasm of the cell becomes gradually constricted by a furrow transverse to the long axis of the nuclear spindle, followed, on the completion of the division of the nucleus, by a separation of the cell contents into two masses, called the daughter cells. --…

To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to cause the exhaustion of. Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent. Bacon. But it was not alone that the he drained their treasure and hampered their industry. Motley.

A draining; a gradual flowing off of any liquid; also, that which flows out of a drain.

To perform menial work; to labor in mean or unpleasant offices with toil and fatigue. He gradually rose in the estimation of the booksellers for whom he drudged. Macaulay.

with accommodations. [Obs.] Chaucer. To ease off, To ease away (Naut.), to slacken a rope gradually. -- To ease a ship (Naut.), to put the helm hard, or regulate the sail, to prevent pitching when closehauled. -- To ease the helm (Naut.), to put the helm more nearly amidships, to lessen the effect on the ship, or the…

, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear. To eat humble pie. See under Humble. -- To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." Keble. -- To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blur…