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A selection of every tenth person by lot, as for punishment. Shak.

A French coin, the tenth part of a franc, equal to about two cents.

A measure of length in the metric system; one tenth of a meter, equal to 3.937 inches.

Able to decide or determine; having a tendency to decide. [R.]

The tenth part of the stere or cubic meter, equal to 3.531 cubic feet. See Stere.

A falling off towards a worse state; a downward tendency; deterioration; decay; as, the declension of virtue, of science, of a state, etc. Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts To base declension. Shak.

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. An…

Large; chief; -- applied to an extraordinary billow, supposed by some to be every tenth in order. [R.] Also used substantively. "Such decuman billows." Gauden. "The baffled decuman." Lowell.

Reclining on the ground, as if too weak to stand, and tending to rise at the summit or apex; as, a decumbent stem. Gray.

Tenfold. [R.]

A head or chief over ten; especially, an officer who commanded a division of ten soldiers.

A set or squad of ten men under a decurion. Sir W. Raleigh.

A division, at one end of a tennis court, for spectators.

To inscribe or address, as to a patron. He complied ten elegant books, and dedicated them to the Lord Burghley. Peacham.

done or effected by a responsible agent; an act; an action; a thing done; -- a word of extensive application, including, whatever is done, good or bad, great or small. And Joseph said to them, What deed is this which ye have done Gen. xliv. 15. We receive the due reward of our deeds. Luke xxiii. 41. Would serve his ki…

Full of deeds or exploits; active; stirring. [R.] "A deedful life." Tennyson.

Extending far below the surface; of great perpendicular dimension (measured from the surface downward, and distinguished from high, which is measured upward); far to the bottom; having a certain depth; as, a deep sea. The water where the brook is deep. Shak.

Profoundly; thoroughly; not superficially; in a high degree; intensely; as, deeply skilled in ethics. He had deeply offended both his nobles and people. Bacon. He sighed deeply in his spirit. Mark viii. 12.

Want or absence of something necessary for completeness or perfection; deficiency; -- opposed to superfluity. Errors have been corrected, and defects supplied. Davies.

er, or maintain security; a guard; a protection. War would arise in defense of the right. Tennyson. God, the widow's champion and defense. Shak.