Category:Diminish

Di*min"ish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Diminished; p. pr. & vb. n. Diminishing.] Etym: [Pref. di- (= L. dis-) + minish: cf. L. diminuere, F. diminuer, OE. diminuen. See Dis-, and Minish.]

1. To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase. Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt. Barrow.

2. To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. This doth nothing diminish their opinion. Robynson (More's Utopia). I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Ezek. xxix. 15. O thou. . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads. Milton.

3. (Mus.)

Defn: To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.

4. To take away; to subtract. Neither shall ye diminish aught from it. Deut. iv. 2. Diminished column, one whose upper diameter is less than the lower. -- Diminished, or Diminishing, scale, a scale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute. Gwilt. -- Diminishing rule (Arch.), a board cut with a concave edge, for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft. -- Diminishing stile (Arch.), a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed doors.

Syn. -- To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail; impair; degrade. See Decrease.

diminish Di*min"ish, v. i.

Defn: To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.