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The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration. [Obs.] Bacon. When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity. Shak. A screen accurately cut in tapiary work . . . with great curiosity. Evelin.

In interior decoration, the lower part of the wall of an apartment when adorned with moldings, or otherwise specially decorated.

bishop of the college of cardinals at Rome. Shipley. -- Dean and chapter, the legal corporation and governing body of a cathedral. It consists of the dean, who is chief, and his canons or prebendaries. -- Dean of arches, the lay judge of the court of arches. -- Dean of faculty, the president of an incorporation or…

A falling away; decay; deterioration; declension. "The old castle, where the family lived in their decadence.' Sir W. Scott.

ection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; as, the decay of the body; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay. Perhaps my God, though he be far before, May turn, and take me by the hand, and more -May strengthen my decays. Herbert. Hi…

To speak rhetorically; to make a formal speech or oration; to harangue; specifically, to recite a speech, poem, etc., in public as a rhetorical exercise; to practice public speaking; as, the students declaim twice a week.

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.

The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline. "The declination of monarchy." Bacon. Summer . . . is not looked on as a time Of declination or decay. Waller.

A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion. Their fathers lived in the decline of literature. Swift.…

who decorates, adorns, or embellishes; specifically, an artisan whose business is the decoration of houses, esp. their interior decoration.

to appoint by decree or law; to determine; to order; to ordain; as, a court decrees a restoration of property. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee. Job xxii. 28.

i. e., a line to take soundings at a great depth); deep-sea lead; deep-sea soundings, explorations, etc.

The state of having become degenerate; decline in good qualities; deterioration; meanness. Degeneracy of spirit in a state of slavery. Addison. To recover mankind out of their universal corruption and degeneracy. S. Clarke.

or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration. Our degeneration and apostasy. Bates.

Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration. The development and degradation of the alphabetic forms can be traced. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

The act of humbling or abasing one's self. Adoration implies submission and dejection. Bp. Pearson.

To deprive of superabundant water, as by evaporation or distillation; to clear of aqueous matter; to rectify; -- used of spirits and acids.

The operation of separating water from spirits and acids, by evaporation or repeated distillation; -- called also concentration, especially when acids are the subject of it. [Obs.]

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.

Deploration. [Obs.]