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t; a writing or certificate signed by a public officer, as evidence of a debt due to some person; the sum thus due.

he state of being weak; weakness; feebleness; languor. The inconveniences of too strong a perspiration, which are debility, faintness, and sometimes sudden death. Arbuthnot.

That which is due from one person to another, whether money, goods, or services; that which one person is bound to pay to another, or to perform for his benefit; thing owed; obligation; liability. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt. Shak. When you run in debt, you give to another power over your liberty. Fran…

A person who makes his (or her) first appearance before the public.

Passed away; dead; gone. The deceased, the dead person.

A deceased person. Bouvier.

ctable; fairly good; reasonably comfortable or satisfying; as, a decent fortune; a decent person. A decent retreat in the mutability of human affairs. Burke. -- De"cent*ly, adv. -- De"cent*ness, n.

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

To dress, as the person; to clothe; especially, to clothe with more than ordinary elegance; to array; to adorn; to embellish. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency. Job xl. 10. And deck my body in gay ornaments. Shak. The dew with spangles decked the ground. Dryden.

coming, ornamental, or honorary; to adorn; to beautify; to embellish; as, to decorate the person; to decorate an edifice; to decorate a lawn with flowers; to decorate the mind with moral beauties; to decorate a hero with honors. Her fat neck was ornamented with jewels, rich bracelets decorated her arms. Thackeray.…

Specifically, any mark of honor to be worn upon the person, as a medal, cross, or ribbon of an order of knighthood, bestowed for services in war, great achievements in literature, art, etc. Decoration Day, a day, May 30, appointed for decorating with flowers the graves of the Union soldiers and sailors, who fell in the…

A person employed by officers of justice, or parties exposed to injury, to induce a suspected person to commit an offense under circumstances that will lead to his detection.

A duck used to lure wild ducks into a decoy; hence, a person employed to lure others into danger. Beau. & Fl.

a variable is diminished. Equal decrement of life. (a) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which the assumed law of mortality is such that of a given large number of persons, all being now of the same age, an equal number shall die each consecutive year. (b) The decrease of life in a group of persons in which…

A writ to commission private persons to do some act in place of a judge, as to examine a witness, etc. Bouvier.

lly, to speak evil of maliciously; to dishonor by slanderous reports; to calumniate; to asperse.

Make use of every friend -- any every foe. Pope. Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. Macaulay.

Act of abandoning a person or cause to which one is bound by allegiance or duty, or to which one has attached himself; desertion; failure in duty; a falling away; apostasy; backsliding. "Defection and falling away from God." Sir W. Raleigh. The general defection of the whole realm. Sir J. Davies.

A person required to make answer in an action or suit; -- opposed to plaintiff. Abbott.

ticle. Definite article (Gram.), the article the, which is used to designate a particular person or thing, or a particular class of persons or things; -- also called a definitive. See Definitive, n. -- Definite inflorescence. (Bot.) See Determinate inflorescence, under Determinate. -- Law of definite proportions (Che…