| 释义 |
▪ I. decrease, n.|dɪˈkriːs, ˈdiːkriːs|
Forms: 4 decrees, 4–7 discrease, 5 decresse, 6– decrease.
[a. OF. decreis, descreis (later des-, de-crois, now décroît), verbal n. f. stem of de-, descreis-tre (de(s)creiss-ant) to decrease.]
The process of growing less; lessening, diminution, falling off, abatement; the condition which results from this. (Opposed to increase n.)
1383Gower Conf. III. 154 That none honour fall in decrees [v.r. discrease]. 1488–9Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 1 To decresse and destruccion of your lyvelode. 1555Eden Decades 119 They see the seas by increase and decrease to flowe and reflowe. 1665Pepys Diary 28 Nov., Soon as we know how the plague goes this week, which we hope will be a good decrease. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. vii. 24 Notes of Diminution or Decrease. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 717 While man is growing, life is in decrease. 1874Green Short Hist. iv. §2. 168 The steady decrease in the number of the greater nobles.
†b. spec. The wane of the moon. Obs.
1626Bacon Sylva §626 Such Fruits..you must gather..when the Moon is under the Earth, and in decrease. 1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 29 The same taken in the decrease of the moon..helpeth the fits of quartans. 1746Hervey Medit. (1818) 266 The moon in her decrease prevents the dawn.
▪ II. decrease, v.|dɪˈkriːs|
Forms: α. 4–5 discrese, 5 discrease, -creace, dyscres, -crece, 6 discresse, dyscrease; β. 4–5 decreesse, 4–6 decrese, 5 -crece, -creace, 5–6 -cresse, 6 Sc. dicres, 6– decrease.
[f. OF. de-, descreiss-, ppl. stem of descreistre (later descroistre (Cotgr. 1611), now décroître) = Pr. descreisser, Cat. descrexer, Sp. descrecer, It. diˈscrescere, which took in Romanic the place of L. dēcrēscĕre, f. dē- down + crēscĕre to grow: see de- I. 6. Under the influence of the L., decreistre was an occasional variant in OF., and under the same influence, de-crese, found beside descrese in ME., eventually superseded it. An AngloFr. decresser, influenced by Eng. decrese or L. decrescere, is found in the Statutes of Hen. VI.]
1. intr. To grow less (in amount, importance, influence, etc.); to lessen, diminish, fall off, shrink, abate. (Opposed to increase v.)
α1393Gower Conf. II. 189 Knowend how that the feith discreseth. a1400Cov. Myst. (1841) 224 Oure joy wylle sone dyscres. 1490Caxton Eneydos Prol. 2 The mone..euer wauerynge, wexynge one season and waneth & dyscreaseth another season. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 2545 Now ebbe, now flowe, nowe increase, nowe dyscrease. 1530Palsgr. 518/2, I discresse, I growe lasse or dymynysshe.
β1382Wyclif Gen. viii. 5 The watres ȝeden and decreesseden [1388 decresiden] vnto the tenthe moneth. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 23 Þan begynnes Nilus to decreesse. 1483Cath. Angl. 92 To Decrese (A. Decresse), decrescere. 1530Palsgr. 509/1, I decrease, I waxe lesse, or vanysshe awaye. 1534Tindale John iii. 30 He must increace: and I must decreace. 1608Shakes. Per. i. ii. 85 Tyrants' fears Decrease not, but grow faster than the years. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. ii. (1838) I. 36 The number of citizens gradually decreased. 1854Brewster More Worlds iv. 68 The temperature..decreases as we rise in the atmosphere.
2. trans. To cause to grow less; to lessen, diminish.
c1470Harding Chron. xvi. vii, For couetyse his brother to discreace. 1587Mirr. Mag., Cordila xlv, He first decreast my wealth. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. 119 His Lands and goods, Which I haue bettered rather then decreast. 1651Life Father Sarpi (1676) 80 Yet the Father knew very well that age decreaseth strength. c1718Prior An Epitaph 42 Nor cherish'd they relations poor, That might decrease their present store. 1865Mill in Even. Star 10 July, That did not decrease in the least the hundreds of miles which London was distant from Edinburgh.
Hence deˈcreasing vbl. n. and ppl. a., deˈcreasingly adv.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. ii. (1495) 298 In the whyche waters..it makyth encreasynge and decresynge. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Descrecimiento, decreasing. 1633Fletcher Purple Isl. ix. l. 134 Which yet increases more with the decreasing day. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 277 [Quakers] hold that..baptism with water belonged to an inferior and decreasing dispensation. 1822Examiner 219/1 Glaring on its contiguous objects, and decreasingly gleaming to the foreground. Mod. Food was decreasingly scarce. |