v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Declaimed p. pr. & vb. n. Declaiming. ] [ L. declamare; de- + clamare to cry out: cf. F. déclamer. See Claim. ] 1. To speak rhetorically; to make a formal speech or oration; to harangue; specifically, to recite a speech, poem, etc., in public as a rhetorical exercise; to practice public speaking; as, the students declaim twice a week. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To speak for rhetorical display; to speak pompously, noisily, or theatrically; to make an empty speech; to rehearse trite arguments in debate; to rant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Grenville seized the opportunity to declaim on the repeal of the stamp act. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To utter in public; to deliver in a rhetorical or set manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To defend by declamation; to advocate loudly. [ Obs. ] “Declaims his cause.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A declaimer. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who declaims; an haranguer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. declamatio, from declamare: cf. F. déclamation. See Declaim. ] 1. The act or art of declaiming; rhetorical delivery; haranguing; loud speaking in public; especially, the public recitation of speeches as an exercise in schools and colleges; as, the practice declamation by students. [ 1913 Webster ]

The public listened with little emotion, but with much civility, to five acts of monotonous declamation. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A set or harangue; declamatory discourse. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Pretentious rhetorical display, with more sound than sense; as, mere declamation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A declaimer. [ R. ] Sir T. Elyot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. declamatorius: cf. F. déclamatoire. ] 1. Pertaining to declamation; treated in the manner of a rhetorician; as, a declamatory theme. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Characterized by rhetorical display; pretentiously rhetorical; without solid sense or argument; bombastic; noisy; as, a declamatory way or style. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being declared. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. déclarant, p. pr. of déclarer. ] (Law) One who declares. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. déclaration, fr. L. declaratio, fr. declarare. See Declare. ] 1. The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on any subject; proclamation; exposition; as, the declaration of an opinion; a declaration of war, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is declared or proclaimed; announcement; distinct statement; formal expression; avowal. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declarations of mercy and love . . . in the Gospel. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The document or instrument containing such statement or proclamation; as, the Declaration of Independence (now preserved in Washington). [ 1913 Webster ]

In 1776 the Americans laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of every royal palace. Buckle. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) That part of the process or pleadings in which the plaintiff sets forth in order and at large his cause of complaint; the narration of the plaintiff's case containing the count, or counts. See Count, n., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declaration of Independence. (Amer. Hist.) See Declaration of Independence in the vocabulary. See also under Independence. --
Declaration of rights. (Eng. Hist) See Bill of rights, under Bill. --
Declaration of trust (Law), a paper subscribed by a grantee of property, acknowledging that he holds it in trust for the purposes and upon the terms set forth. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Amer. Hist.) The document promugated, July 4, 1776, by the leaders of the thirteen British Colonies in America that they have formed an independent country. See note below. [ PJC ]

The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

a. [ L. declarativus, fr. declarare: cf. F. déclaratif. ] Making declaration, proclamation, or publication; explanatory; assertive; declaratory. “Declarative laws.” Baker. [ 1913 Webster ]

The “vox populi, ” so declarative on the same side. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By distinct assertion; not impliedly; in the form of a declaration. [ 1913 Webster ]

The priest shall expiate it, that is, declaratively. Bates. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., an announcer. ] (Scots Law) A form of action by which some right or interest is sought to be judicially declared. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a declaratory manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. déclaratoire. ] Making declaration, explanation, or exhibition; making clear or manifest; affirmative; expressive; as, a clause declaratory of the will of the legislature. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declaratory act (Law), an act or statute which sets forth more clearly, and declares what is, the existing law. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Declared p. pr. & vb. n. Declaring. ] [ F. déclarer, from L. declarare; de + clarare to make clear, clarus, clear, bright. See Clear. ] 1. To make clear; to free from obscurity. [ Obs. ] “To declare this a little.” Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make known by language; to communicate or manifest explicitly and plainly in any way; to exhibit; to publish; to proclaim; to announce. [ 1913 Webster ]

This day I have begot whom I declare
My only Son. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The heavens declare the glory of God. Ps. xix. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make declaration of; to assert; to affirm; to set forth; to avow; as, he declares the story to be false. [ 1913 Webster ]

I the Lord . . . declare things that are right. Isa. xlv. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Com.) To make full statement of, as goods, etc., for the purpose of paying taxes, duties, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

To declare off, to recede from an agreement, undertaking, contract, etc.; to renounce. --
To declare one's self, to avow one's opinion; to show openly what one thinks, or which side he espouses. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To make a declaration, or an open and explicit avowal; to proclaim one's self; -- often with for or against; as, victory declares against the allies. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like fawning courtiers, for success they wait,
And then come smiling, and declare for fate. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) To state the plaintiff's cause of action at law in a legal form; as, the plaintiff declares in trespass. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. made known or openly avowed; as, their declared and their covert objectives; a declared liberal. Opposite of undeclared. [ Narrower terms: avowed(prenominal), professed(prenominal) ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. stated as fact; explicitly stated.
Syn. -- stated. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. Avowedly; explicitly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being declared. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Declaration. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes known or proclaims; that which exhibits. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Declassed p. pr. & vb. n. Declassing. ] [ Cf. F. déclasser. ] To remove from a class; to separate or degrade from one's class. North Am. Rev. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖pos>adj. [ F. Cf. F. déclasser. ] 1. Reduced or fallen in status, social position, class or rank; fallen from a high status or rank to a lower one. [ PJC ]

2. Of inferior grade, rank, status, or prestige. [ PJC ]

n. Reduction by the government of restrictions on a classified document or weapon. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. having a security classification removed so as to be open to public inspection; -- of documents or information. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. to lift the restriction on publication [ of documents ] by reducing or eliminating the secrecy classification of; -- usually applied to government documents classified as secret.
Syn. -- make available again. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. to remove the claws from, -- used especially with a cat as an object. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Apparently corrupted fr. F. déclinaison, fr. L. declinatio, fr. declinare. See Decline, and cf. Declination. ] 1. The act or the state of declining; declination; descent; slope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The declension of the land from that place to the sea. T. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A falling off towards a worse state; a downward tendency; deterioration; decay; as, the declension of virtue, of science, of a state, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts
To base declension. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Act of courteously refusing; act of declining; a declinature; refusal; as, the declension of a nomination. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Gram.) (a) Inflection of nouns, adjectives, etc., according to the grammatical cases. (b) The form of the inflection of a word declined by cases; as, the first or the second declension of nouns, adjectives, etc. (c) Rehearsing a word as declined. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The nominative was held to be the primary and original form, and was likened to a perpendicular line; the variations, or oblique cases, were regarded as fallings (hence called casus, cases, or fallings) from the nominative or perpendicular; and an enumerating of the various forms, being a sort of progressive descent from the noun's upright form, was called a declension. Harris. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declension of the needle, declination of the needle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Belonging to declension. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declensional and syntactical forms. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. déclinable. See Decline. ] Capable of being declined; admitting of declension or inflection; as, declinable parts of speech. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Declining; sloping. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. declinatus, p. p. of declinare. See Decline. ] Bent downward or aside; (Bot.) bending downward in a curve; declined. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. declinatio a bending aside, an avoiding: cf. F. déclination a decadence. See Declension. ] 1. The act or state of bending downward; inclination; as, declination of the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline. “The declination of monarchy.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Summer . . . is not looked on as a time
Of declination or decay. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of deviating or turning aside; oblique motion; obliquity; withdrawal. [ 1913 Webster ]

The declination of atoms in their descent. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every declination and violation of the rules. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The act or state of declining or refusing; withdrawal; refusal; averseness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The queen's declination from marriage. Stow. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Astron.) The angular distance of any object from the celestial equator, either northward or southward. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Dialing) The arc of the horizon, contained between the vertical plane and the prime vertical circle, if reckoned from the east or west, or between the meridian and the plane, reckoned from the north or south. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Gram.) The act of inflecting a word; declension. See Decline, v. t., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

Angle of declination, the angle made by a descending line, or plane, with a horizontal plane. --
Circle of declination, a circle parallel to the celestial equator. --
Declination compass (Physics), a compass arranged for finding the declination of the magnetic needle. --
Declination of the compass or
Declination of the needle, the horizontal angle which the magnetic needle makes with the true north-and-south line. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. déclinateur. See Decline. ] 1. An instrument for taking the declination or angle which a plane makes with the horizontal plane. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A dissentient. [ R. ] Bp. Hacket. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. declinatorius, fr. L. declinare: cf. F. déclinatoire. ] Containing or involving a declination or refusal, as of submission to a charge or sentence. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declinatory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of declining or refusing; as, the declinature of an office. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Declined p. pr. & vb. n. Declining. ] [ OE. declinen to bend down, lower, sink, decline (a noun), F. décliner to decline, refuse, fr. L. declinare to turn aside, inflect (a part of speech), avoid; de- + clinare to incline; akin to E. lean. See Lean, v. i. ] 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.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family. Lady Hutchinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Disdaining to decline,
Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ground at length became broken and declined rapidly. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

That empire must decline
Whose chief support and sinews are of coin. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

And presume to know . . .
Who thrives, and who declines. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. Ps. cxix. 157. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall. [ 1913 Webster ]

In melancholy deep, with head declined. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste
His weary wagon to the western vale. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cause to decrease or diminish. [ Obs. ] “You have declined his means.” Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Could I
Decline this dreadful hour? Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Gram.) To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Now restricted to such words as have case inflections; but formerly it was applied both to declension and conjugation. [ 1913 Webster ]

After the first declining of a noun and a verb. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. déclin. See Decline, v. i. ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their fathers lived in the decline of literature. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline. Dunglison.

Syn. -- Decline, Decay, Consumption. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Declinate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. He who declines or rejects. [ 1913 Webster ]

A studious decliner of honors. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. decreasing; as, steadily declining incomes.
Syn. -- down(prenominal). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. going from better to worse.
Syn. -- deteriorating, failing, regressing, retrograde, retrogressive. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. becoming less or smaller; as, declining powers of body and mind. Opposite of increasing.
Syn. -- eroding. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. drawing to an end; waning; as, his declining years. [ prenominal ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Decline + -meter. ] (Physics) An instrument for measuring the declination of the magnetic needle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Declinate.

n.; pl. Declivities [ L. declivitas, fr. declivis sloping, downhill; de + clivus a slope, a hill; akin to clinare to incline: cf. F. déclivité. See Decline. ] 1. Deviation from a horizontal line; gradual descent of surface; inclination downward; slope; -- opposed to acclivity, or ascent; the same slope, considered as descending, being a declivity, which, considered as ascending, is an acclivity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A descending surface; a sloping place. [ 1913 Webster ]

Commodious declivities and channels for the passage of the waters. Derham. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Descending gradually; moderately steep; sloping; downhill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. & t. to disengage the clutch of a car. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. indeclinabilis: cf. F. indéclinable. See In- not, and Decline. ] (Gram.) Not declinable; not varied by inflective terminations; as, nihil (nothing), in Latin, is an indeclinable noun. -- n. An indeclinable word. [ 1913 Webster ]