DECIMATE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Decimate

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verb

Decimate v. t. (past & past part. decimated; pres. part. decimating)

To take the tenth part of; to tithe.

To select by lot and punish with death every tenth man of; as, to decimate a regiment as a punishment for mutiny.

To destroy a considerable part of; as, to decimate an army in battle; to decimate a people by disease.

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Etymology of 'Decimate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Decimate" Quotes from Famous Books

... C——, that my hens sat furiously for a week, and then took to lingering outside, where perpetual feeding was going on, until their eggs grew cold; that my ducks neglected their offspring and allowed the rats to decimate them, and that every variety of epidemic and misfortune assailed in turns my unhappy poultry yard. Kind Mrs. C—— listened as gravely as she could, hinting very gently, that perhaps I took too much trouble about them; then, fearing least she ...

— Station Amusements • Lady Barker

Words linked to "Decimate" : decimation, carry off, annihilate, kill, eradicate, extinguish, eliminate