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The document or instrument containing such statement or proclamation; as, the Declaration of Independence (now preserved in Washington). In 1776 the Americans laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of every royal palace. Buckle.…

An instrument for taking the declination or angle which a plane makes with the horizontal plane.

An instrument for measuring the declination of the magnetic needle.

Suitable to a character, or to the time, place, and occasion; marked with decorum; becoming; proper; seemly; befitting; as, a decorous speech; decorous behavior; a decorous dress for a judge. A decorous pretext the war. Motley. -- De*co"rous*ly, adv. -- De*co"rous*ness, n.

A machine for decorticating wood, hulling grain, etc.; also, an instrument for removing surplus bark or moss from fruit trees.

A sealed instrument in writing, on paper or parchment, duly executed and delivered, containing some transfer, bargain, or contract.

Gravely; with low or deep tone; as, a deeply toned instrument.

A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many species, and of related genera of the family Cervidæ. The males, and in some species the females, have solid antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually. Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison.

h distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly; as, the defining power of an optical instrument. Rings . . . very distinct and well defined. Sir I. Newton.

Distinctness or clearness, as of an image formed by an optical instrument; precision in detail.

A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer.

Out of; without; foreign to; out of the agreement, record, will, or other instrument.

An instrument for measuring angles, in surveying, etc. It resembles

An instrument to measure the height and diameter of trees.

An instrument for ascertaining the specific gravity or density of a substance.

An instrument which, placed against the teeth, conveys sound to the auditory nerve; an audiphone. Knight.

An instrument for scraping the teeth.

An instrument or apparatus in which water is separated by evaporation or distillation; the part of a distilling apparatus in which the separation of the vapors is effected.

An instrument formerly used in removing the laminæ of exfoliated bones.

Power of devising; invention; contrivance. I must have instruments of my own device. Landor.