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decay |
6 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Decay \De*cay"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Decayed}; p. pr & vb n. {Decaying}.] [OF. decaeir dechaer decheoir F. d['e]choir, to decline fall, become less L. de- + cadere to fall. See {Chance}.] 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. --Goldsmith. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Decay \De*cay"\, v. t. 1. To cause to decay; to impair. [R.] Infirmity, that decays the wise. --Shak. 2. To destroy. [Obs.] --Shak. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Decay \De*cay"\, n. 1. 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. --Herbert. His [Johnson's] failure was not to be ascribed to intellectual decay. --Macaulay. Which has caused the decay of the consonants to follow somewhat different laws. --James Byrne. 2. Destruction; death. [Obs.] --Spenser. 3. Cause of decay. [R.] He that plots to be the only figure among ciphers, is the decay of the whole age. --Bacon. Syn: Decline consumption. See {Decline}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: decay n 1: the process of gradually becoming inferior 2: a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current [syn: {decline}] 3: the organic phenomenon of rotting [syn: {decomposition}] 4: an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying; "the corpse was in an advanced state of decay"; "the house had fallen into a serious state of decay and disrepair" 5: the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation [syn: {radioactive decay}, {disintegration}] 6: the phenomenon of spontaneous changes in the nucleus of an atom [syn: {radioactive decay}] v 1: lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current; of particles [syn: {disintegrate}, {decompose}] 2: fall into decay or ruin; "The unoccupied house started to decay" [syn: {crumble}, {delapidate}] 3: undergo decay or decomposition From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: decay n.,vi [from nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to most array-valued expressions in {C}; they `decay into' pointer-valued expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is borderline techspeak but is not used in the official standard for the language. From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: decay [Nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to most array-valued expressions in {C}; they "decay into" pointer-valued expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is not used in the official standard for the language. [{Jargon File}]
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