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ny manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase. Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt. Barrow.

Capable of being diminished or lessened.

One who, or that which, diminishes anything. Clerke (1637).

In a manner to diminish.

Diminution. [R.] Cheke.

Incapable of being diminished. [R.] Milton.

To diminish again.

To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; toto cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Deut. xxxiv. 7.

A medicine that diminishes irritation.

To diminish the sensibility of; to debilitate.

Diminishing; as, an ablatitious force. Sir J. Herschel.

To make shorter; to shorten in duration; to lessen; to diminish; to curtail; as, to abridge labor; to abridge power or rights. "The bridegroom . . . abridged his visit." Smollett. She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her train from state to necessity. Fuller.

To diminish in strength; to abate; to subside. "When the rage allays." Shak.

Diminishing plasticity.

To mitigate; to moderate; to appease; to abate; to diminish. [Archaic] Chaucer.

pper, or of fifty parts of tin to five of antimony and one of copper) used in bearings to diminish friction.

A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.

Any mark of deformity or injury, whether physical or moral; anything; that diminishes beauty, or renders imperfect that which is otherwise well formed; that which impairs reputation. He shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish. Lev. xiv. 10. The reliefs of an envious m…

To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. Dryden.

itting bushes, or linings, into holes or places where wear is to be received, or friction diminished, as pivot holes, etc.