In chess, to refuse to take a piece or pawn offered.
noun.
A bending or sloping downward; a slope; declivity; incline.
noun.
A descending; progress downward or toward a close.
noun.
A failing or deterioration; a sinking into an impaired or inferior condition; falling off; loss of strength, character, or value; decay.
noun.
In medicine: That stage of a disease when the characteristic symptoms begin to abate in violence.
noun.
A popular term for any chronic disease in which the strength and plumpness of the body gradually diminish, until the patient dies: as, he is in a decline.
noun.
The time of life when the physical and mental powers are failing. Quain.
To cause to bend or slope; bend down; incline; cause to assume an inclined position; depress.
To lower; degrade; debase.
To decrease; diminish; reduce.
To cause to deviate from a straight or right course; turn aside; deflect.
To turn aside from; deviate from.
To avoid by moving out of the way; shun; avoid in general.
To refuse; refuse or withhold consent to do, accept, or enter upon: as, to decline a contest; to decline an offer.
In grammar, to inflect, as a noun or an adjective; give the case-forms of a noun or an adjective in their order: as, dominus, domini, domino, dominum, domine.
To bend or slant down; assume an inclined position; hang down; slope or trend downward; descend: as, the sun declines toward the west.
To deviate from a right line; specifically, to deviate from a line passing through the north and south points.
To deviate from a course or an object; turn aside; fall away; wander.
To sink to a lower level; sink down; hence, figuratively, to fall into an inferior or impaired condition; lose strength, vigor, character, or value; fall off; deteriorate.
To stoop, as to an unworthy object; lower one's self; condescend.
To refuse; express refusal: as, he was invited, but declined.
To approach or draw toward the close.
To incline; tend.
To incline morally; be favorably disposed.