DECAY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Decay

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/dəkˈeɪ/ /dɪkˈeɪ/ Listen

noun

Decay n.

Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; 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." "His (Johnson's) failure was not to be ascribed to intellectual decay." "Which has caused the decay of the consonants to follow somewhat different laws."

Destruction; death. (Obs.)

Cause of decay. (R.) "He that plots to be the only figure among ciphers, is the decay of the whole age."

Synonyms: Decline; consumption. See Decline.

verb

Decay v. t.

To cause to decay; to impair. (R.) "Infirmity, that decays the wise."

To destroy. (Obs.)

Decay v. i. (past & past part. decayed; pres. part. decaying) To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay. "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay."

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Etymology of 'Decay'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Decay" Quotes from Famous Books

... condition of the sewers" is "dangerous to the health and most offensive to the comfort of our people. Public work has been done so badly that structures have to be renewed almost as soon as finished. Others have been in part constructed at enormous expense and then permitted to fall to decay without completion." This is a graphic and faithful description of the result which follows government of the Ring, for the Ring, with the people's money. The legislature in 1885 granted Philadelphia a new charter, ...

— The Boss and the Machine • Samuel P. Orth

... body meanwhile being strengthened by a life in the open air of the mountains, and by such athletic sports as well supplied the place of the games of the ancient Greeks and Romans, this fine spirit was saved from premature decay, to the honor of his country, ...

— Life of Schamyl - And Narrative of the Circassian War of Independence Against Russia • John Milton Mackie

... provided China with her dynasty and her warrior caste, and was still one of the wealthiest and most cherished lands of that Empire. Having secured these points of vantage in Northern China, the Muscovites could await with confidence further developments in the decay of ...

— The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.) • John Holland Rose

... smoke-dried tie-periwig, which all the flour in his dredging-box had not been able to whiten; his eyes were sunk, his jaws lengthened beyond their usual extension; and he seemed twenty years older than he looked when he and our hero parted at Rotterdam. In spite of all these evidences of decay, he accosted him with a meagre affectation of content and good-humour, struggled piteously to appear gay and unconcerned, professed his joy at seeing him in England, excused himself for having delayed so long to come and present his respects; alleging that, since ...

— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett

... not mean to suggest that the custom of lying has suffered any decay or interruption—no, for the Lie, as a Virtue, A Principle, is eternal; the Lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man's best and surest friend, is immortal, and cannot perish from the earth while this club remains. My complaint simply ...

— On the Decay of the Art of Lying • Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

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