de·cline /dɪˈklaɪn, di-/
 衰微,跌落,下降(vt.)使降低,婉謝(vi.)下降,衰落,偏斜
 de·cline /dɪˈklaɪn/ 不及物動詞
 減退期
 De·cline v. i. [imp. & p. p. Declined p. pr. & vb. n. Declining.]
 1. To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend. “With declining head.”
    He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family.   --Lady Hutchinson.
 Disdaining to decline,
 Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries.   --Byron.
    The ground at length became broken and declined rapidly.   --Sir W. Scott.
 2. 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.
 And presume to know . . .
 Who thrives, and who declines.   --Shak.
 3. To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals.
    Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.   --Ps. cxix. 157.
 4. To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle.
 De·cline, v. t.
 1. To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
    In melancholy deep, with head declined.   --Thomson.
 And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste
 His weary wagon to the western vale.   --Spenser.
 2. To cause to decrease or diminish. [Obs.] “You have declined his means.”
    He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.   --Burton.
 3. To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them.
 Could I
 Decline this dreadful hour?   --Massinger.
 4. Gram. To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective.
 Note: ☞ Now restricted to such words as have case inflections; but formerly it was applied both to declension and conjugation.
    After the first declining of a noun and a verb.   --Ascham.
 5. To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun. [R.]
 De·cline n.
 1. 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.
 2. Med. That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever.
 3. A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline.
 Syn: -- Decline, Decay, Consumption.
 Usage: Decline marks the first stage in a downward progress; decay indicates the second stage, and denotes a tendency to ultimate destruction; consumption marks a steady decay from an internal exhaustion of strength. The health may experience a decline from various causes at any period of life; it is naturally subject to decay with the advance of old age; consumption may take place at almost any period of life, from disease which wears out the constitution. In popular language decline is often used as synonymous with consumption. By a gradual decline, states and communities lose their strength and vigor; by progressive decay, they are stripped of their honor, stability, and greatness; by a consumption of their resources and vital energy, they are led rapidly on to a completion of their existence.
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 decline
      n 1: change toward something smaller or lower [syn: diminution]
      2: a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual
         falling off from a better state [syn: declination] [ant:
          improvement]
      3: a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current [syn: decay]
      4: a downward slope or bend [syn: descent, declivity, fall,
          declination, declension, downslope] [ant: ascent]
      v 1: grow worse; "Conditions in the slum worsened" [syn: worsen]
           [ant: better]
      2: refuse to accept; "He refused my offer of hospitality" [syn:
          refuse, reject, pass up, turn down] [ant: accept]
      3: show unwillingness towards; "he declined to join the group
         on a hike" [syn: refuse] [ant: accept]
      4: grow smaller; "Interest in the project waned" [syn: go down,
          wane]
      5: go down; "The roof declines here"
      6: go down in value; "the stock market corrected"; "prices
         slumped" [syn: slump, correct]
      7: inflect for number, gender, case, etc., "in many languages,
         speakers decline nouns, pronouns, and adjectives"