DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Di·min·ish v. t. [imp. & p. p. Diminished p. pr. & vb. n. Diminishing.]
 1. To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase.
    Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt.   --Barrow.
 2. To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken.
    This doth nothing diminish their opinion.   --Robynson (More's Utopia).
    I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.   --Ezek. xxix. 15.
 O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars
 Hide their diminished heads.   --Milton.
 3. Mus. To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.
 4. To take away; to subtract.
    Neither shall ye diminish aught from it.   --Deut. iv. 2.
 Diminished column, one whose upper diameter is less than the lower.
 Diminished scale, or Diminishing scale, a scale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute. --Gwilt.
 Diminishing rule Arch., a board cut with a concave edge, for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft.
 Diminishing stile Arch., a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed doors.
 Syn: -- To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail; impair; degrade. See Decrease.