v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Decocted; p. pr. & vb. n. Decocting. ] [ L. decoctus, p. p. of decoquere to boil down; de- + coquere to cook, boil. See Cook to decoct. ] 1. To prepare by boiling; to digest in hot or boiling water; to extract the strength or flavor of by boiling; to make an infusion of. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To prepare by the heat of the stomach for assimilation; to digest; to concoct. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To warm, strengthen, or invigorate, as if by boiling. [ R. ] “Decoct their cold blood.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being boiled or digested. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. décoction, L. decoctio. ] 1. The act or process of boiling anything in a watery fluid to extract its virtues. [ 1913 Webster ]

In decoction . . . it either purgeth at the top or settleth at the bottom. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An extract got from a body by boiling it in water. [ 1913 Webster ]

If the plant be boiled in water, the strained liquor is called the decoction of the plant. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where there is merely steeping. Latham. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

v. t. to convert from a coded form into the original form; -- of communications. Inverse of encode.
Syn. -- decrypt, decipher[ WE1 ]. [ PJC ]

n. [ Pref. de- + coherer. ] (Elec.) A device for restoring a coherer to its normal condition after it has been affected by an electric wave, a process usually accomplished by some method of tapping or shaking, or by rotation of the coherer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Decollated; p. pr. & vb. n. Decollating. ] [ L. decollatus, p. p. of decollare to behead; de- + collum neck. ] To sever from the neck; to behead; to decapitate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The decollated head of St. John the Baptist. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Decapitated; worn or cast off in the process of growth, as the apex of certain univalve shells. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. decollatio: cf. F. décollation. ] 1. The act of beheading or state of one beheaded; -- especially used of the execution of St. John the Baptist. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A painting representing the beheading of a saint or martyr, esp. of St. John the Baptist. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. See Décolleté. ] (Costume) 1. The upper border or part of a low-cut (i.e., décolleté) dress. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

2. The exposed upper parts of the breasts of a woman wearing a low-cut dress; as, transfixed by her stunning decolletage. [ PJC ]

‖a. [ F., p. p. of décolleter to bare the neck and shoulders; dé- + collet collar, fr. L. collum neck. ] 1. Leaving the neck and shoulders uncovered; cut low in the neck, or low-necked, as a dress. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Wearing a décolleté gown. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Beheading. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

By a speedy dethroning and decolling of the king. Parliamentary History (1648). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. same as decolonization. [ mostly British ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. the action of changing from colonial to independent status.
Syn. -- decolonisation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. to grant independence to (a former colony). [ Also spelled decolonise. ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. to release one's colonies and free them to become independednt nations; -- of nations. [ Also spelled decolonise. ] [ PJC ]

v. t. [ Cf. F. décolorer, L. decolorare. Cf. Discolor. ] To deprive of color; to bleach. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. décolorant, p. pr. ] A substance which removes color, or bleaches. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. decoloratus, p. p. of decolorare. ] Deprived of color. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To decolor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. decoloratio: cf. F. décoloration. ] The removal or absence of color. Ferrand. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To deprive of color; to whiten. Turner. -- De*col`or*i*za"tion n. [1913 Webster]

a. [ Pref. de- (intens.) + complex. ] Repeatedly compound; made up of complex constituents. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being resolved into constituent elements. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Decomposed p. pr. & vb. n. Decomposing. ] [ Cf. F. décomposer. Cf. Discompose. ] To separate the constituent parts of; to resolve into original elements; to set free from previously existing forms of chemical combination; to bring to dissolution; to rot or decay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become resolved or returned from existing combinations; to undergo dissolution; to decay; to rot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Separated or broken up; -- said of the crest of birds when the feathers are divergent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. de- (intens.) + composite. ] 1. Compounded more than once; compounded with things already composite. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) See Decompound, a., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Anything decompounded. [ 1913 Webster ]

Decomposites of three metals or more. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. de- (in sense 3 intensive) + composition: cf. F. décomposition. Cf. Decomposition. ] 1. The act or process of resolving the constituent parts of a compound body or substance into its elementary parts; separation into constituent part; analysis; the decay or dissolution consequent on the removal or alteration of some of the ingredients of a compound; disintegration; as, the decomposition of wood, rocks, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being reduced into original elements. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Repeated composition; a combination of compounds. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Decomposition of forces. Same as Resolution of forces, under Resolution. --
Decomposition of light, the division of light into the prismatic colors. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. causing organic decay. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Decompounded; p. pr. & vb. n. Decompounding. ] [ Pref. de- (intens. in sense 1) + compound, v. t. ] 1. To compound or mix with that is already compound; to compound a second time. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To reduce to constituent parts; to decompose. [ 1913 Webster ]

It divides and decompounds objects into . . . parts. Hazlitt. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. de- (intens.) + compound, a. ] 1. Compound of what is already compounded; compounded a second time. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Several times compounded or divided, as a leaf or stem; decomposite. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A decomposite. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being decompounded. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. to undergo the process of decompression. [ PJC ]

v. t. to subject to the process of decompression. [ PJC ]

n. 1. the process of experiencing decompression; the act or process of relieving or reducing pressure.
Syn. -- decompression. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. the process of experiencing decompression; the act or process of relieving or reducing pressure.
Syn. -- decompressing. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. the reduction of atmospheric pressure experienced by divers rising from deep water to the surface, thus reducing the concentration of dissolved atmospheric gases in the blood; -- especially applied to a gradual reduction of such pressure. [ PJC ]

3. the process, analogous to sense 2, undergone by divers in a decompression chamber, in which an artificially high atmospheric pressure is gradually lowered to normal pressure. [ PJC ]

4. a return to a normal, more relaxed state after a period of intense stress, psychological pressure, or urgent activity; -- of people. [ PJC ]

5. (Computers) the process of converting digitally encoded data from a more compact (compressed) form to its original, larger size. The process of compression and decompression may completely recover all of the original data (called lossless compression), or may lose some of the original data in order to achieve higher degress of compression (lossy compression). The latter is used especially with images or video data, which may be of very large size relative to text, and for which small changes may be imperceptible to the human eye. The JPEG data compression format is a lossy format. [ PJC ]

v. t. To withdraw from concentration; to decentralize. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Act of deconcentrating. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To decompose. [ R. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To deprive of sacredness; to secularize. -- De*con`se*cra"tion n. [1913 Webster]

v. t. To interpret (a text or an artwork) by the method of deconstruction. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A philosophical theory of criticism (usually of literature or film) that seeks to expose deep-seated contradictions in a work by delving below its surface meaning. This method questions the ability of language to represent a fixed reality, and proposes that a text has no stable meaning because words only refer to other words, that metaphysical or ethnocentric assumptions about the meaning of words must be questioned, and words may be redefined in new contexts and new, equally valid and even contradictory meanings may be found. Such new interpretations may be based on the philosophical, political, or social implications of the words of a text, rather than solely on attempts to determine the author's intentions. RHUD MW10
Syn. -- deconstructionism. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. the process of criticising or interpreting a text by the method of deconstruction{ 1 }. [ PJC ]

n. Same as decontruction{ 1 }.
Syn. -- deconstruction. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. Of or pertaining to deconstruction or deconstructionism; as, deconstructionist criticism. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. To remove contamination or contaminants from, by a cleansing process; -- usually used of radioactive, infectious, or toxic materials; as, to decontaminate clothing worn by persons with infective disease; decontaminate an area of PCB's after explosion of a transformer. [ PJC ]

n. The removal of contaminants; as, the decontamination of a room after a spill of radioactive materials. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ Fr. décor, fr. décorer to decorate, fr. L decorare. See decorate. ] 1. the layout, style, and furnishings of a livable interior.
Syn. -- interior decoration. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. Decoration{ 2 }. [ PJC ]

3. (Theater) A stage setting. MW10 [ PJC ]