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Declination   Listen
noun
Declination  n.  
1.
The act or state of bending downward; inclination; as, declination of the head.
2.
The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline. "The declination of monarchy." "Summer... is not looked on as a time Of declination or decay."
3.
The act of deviating or turning aside; oblique motion; obliquity; withdrawal. "The declination of atoms in their descent." "Every declination and violation of the rules."
4.
The act or state of declining or refusing; withdrawal; refusal; averseness. "The queen's declination from marriage."
5.
(Astron.) The angular distance of any object from the celestial equator, either northward or southward.
6.
(Dialing) The arc of the horizon, contained between the vertical plane and the prime vertical circle, if reckoned from the east or west, or between the meridian and the plane, reckoned from the north or south.
7.
(Gram.) The act of inflecting a word; declension. See Decline, v. t., 4.
Angle of declination, the angle made by a descending line, or plane, with a horizontal plane.
Circle of declination, a circle parallel to the celestial equator.
Declination compass (Physics), a compass arranged for finding the declination of the magnetic needle.
Declination of the compass or Declination of the needle, the horizontal angle which the magnetic needle makes with the true north-and-south line.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Declination" Quotes from Famous Books



... generation with whose earliest romance of the heart and fancy his idea had been blended, was now grown to the full stature; the success of these recent novels, seen on every table, the subject of every conversation, had, with those who did not doubt their parentage, far more than counterweighed his declination, dubious after all, in the poetical balance; while the mystery that hung over them quickened the curiosity of the hesitating and conjecturing many—and the name on which ever and anon some new circumstance ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume V (of 10) • John Gibson Lockhart

... Aurelia's declination she had expected. Her inordinate pride in being Caesar's mother had not modified her arrogant, old-time severity toward the freedom of modern life. But that Calpurnia should plead her husband's absence ...
— Roads from Rome • Anne C. E. Allinson

... Burleigh wished she were fifteen years old. 'With that he rounded Sir Walter in the ear, who answered, it would be a very happy thing.' Cavendish goes on to observe that Sir Walter was in wonderful declination, yet laboured to underprop himself by my Lord Treasurer and his friends. He inferred from the contrast between Ralegh's former pride and his present too great humility, that he would never rise again. My Lord Treasurer and his friends were not given to the support of ...
— Sir Walter Ralegh - A Biography • William Stebbing

... page, and opposite the number of each successive day of the month the position of the planet is given in hours, minutes, and seconds of right ascension, and degrees, minutes, and seconds of north and south declination, the sign meaning north, and the sign - south. Do not trouble yourself with the seconds in either column, and take the minutes only when the number is large. The hours of right ascension and the degrees of declination are the main things to ...
— Other Worlds - Their Nature, Possibilities and Habitability in the Light of the Latest Discoveries • Garrett P. Serviss

... may not be compelled to hastily come to a conclusion, I will leave open for three days these propositions for your acceptance or declination, and in ...
— Random Reminiscences of Men and Events • John D. Rockefeller

... telescope. For an entire year their form may be difficult to make out with a small telescope. These unfavorable conditions occur in 1907 and 1921. Between these dates, especially for some years after 1910, the position of the planet in the sky will be the most favorable, being in northern declination, near its perihelion, and having its rings widely open. We all know that Saturn is plainly visible to the naked eye, shining almost like a star of the first magnitude, so that there is no difficulty in finding it if one knows when and where to look. In 1906-1908 its oppositions occur in the ...
— Side-lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular Science • Simon Newcomb

... all this, I got almost no observation; the fog came up, and I had scarcely anything better than an estimation. I saw the comet blaze out, just on the edge of the field, and I could read its declination only. ...
— Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals • Maria Mitchell

... of his course, the sun is found in the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn. These points are astronomically distinguished as the summer and winter solstice. When the sun is in these points, he has reached his greatest northern and southern declination, and produces the most evident effects on the temperature of the seasons, and on the length of the days and nights. These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's apparent course, will be indicated by the points where ...
— The Symbolism of Freemasonry • Albert G. Mackey

... of objection now to telling the whole story. The subscribers, of course, have a right to know what became of their money. The astronomers may as well know all about it, before they announce any more asteroids with an enormous movement in declination. And experimenters on the longitude may as well know, so that they may act advisedly in attempting another brick moon or ...
— The Brick Moon, et. al. • Edward Everett Hale

... temperature under the Pole, being the time of the Sun's northern declination, half a year together, and one whole day (considering that the sun's elevation surmounteth not twenty-three degrees and thirty minutes), can have power to dissolve such monstrous and huge ice, comparable to great mountains, except by some other force, as by swift currents ...
— Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage • Richard Hakluyt

... black-bulb thermometer rose in the sun to 130 degrees. The morning observation before 10 or 11 a.m. always gives a higher result than at noon, though the sun's declination is so considerably less, and in the hottest part of the day it is lower still (3.30 p.m. 109 degrees), an effect no doubt due to the vapours raised by the sun, and which equally interfere with the photometer observations. The N.W. ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker

... moment have elevated their eyes only three feet higher, they would not have needed to wait for the declination of the orb of day. They would have seen land, such land as it was; but, sunk as their shoulders were almost to the level of the water, even the summits of the sand dunes were not ...
— The Boy Slaves • Mayne Reid

... of mind that I proceeded on my way to the Planet offices. I would have sacrificed much to have been afforded means to comfort Isobel; a furious anger towards the man who thus deliberately had brought doubt and unhappiness upon her had taken up permanent quarters in my mind. I counted Coverly's declination to clear himself little better than the attitude of ...
— The Green Eyes of Bast • Sax Rohmer

... his hand to regard its condition, and the next natural thing was to take hers. There was a glow upon his face when he did it: his star was at last on a fair way towards the zenith after its long and weary declination. The least penetrating eye could have perceived that Anne had resolved to let him woo, possibly in her temerity to let him win. Whatever silent sorrow might be locked up in her, it was by this time thrust a long way down from ...
— The Trumpet-Major • Thomas Hardy

... negotiations. Upon the Memoires and historic of Monsieur du Bellay: It is ever a well-pleasing thing to see matters written by those that have as said how and in what manner they ought to be directed and managed: yet can it not be denied but that in both these Lords there will manifestly appeare a great declination from a free libertie of writing, which clearely shineth in ancient writers of their kind: as in the Lord of louinille, familiar unto Saint Lewis; Eginard, Chancellor unto Charlemaine; and of more fresh memorie in Philip de Comines. This is rather a declamation ...
— Literary and Philosophical Essays • Various

... our course was N.N.E. four leagues. We then anchored in 11 f. on ooze, having Pulo Kero by estimation thirteen league S by W. This night at nine, being still at anchor in the same place, I made the ship, by observation of the Crozies, in lat. 4 deg. 40' S. allowing 29 deg. for the complement of declination. We set sail at four a.m. of the 2d, and by noon had run about six leagues N.N.E. the depths continuing as before, 13, 12, 11 f. By noon of the 3d our course was S. by E. five leagues, the soundings as before, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr

... be ascertained from the Ephemeris, the observer can find it by day. If his telescope is not permanently mounted and provided with "circles" this may not prove an easy thing to do, yet a little perseverance and ingenuity will effect it. One way is to find, with a star chart, some star whose declination is the same, or very nearly the same, as that of Venus, and which crosses the meridian say twelve hours ahead of her. Then set the telescope upon that star, when it is on the meridian at night, and leave it there, and the next day, twelve hours after ...
— Pleasures of the telescope • Garrett Serviss

... head in declination, but Yakob took him under the arm, lifted him, and made him walk ...
— Mother • Maxim Gorky

... throw it up as high as you can into the Air, and when the body of the Ball fires, it will appear to the Beholders like a fiery Globe, with a Stream or Blaze, like as if a Comet or Blazing Star were Ascending or Descending, according to its height or Declination, ...
— The School of Recreation (1696 edition) • Robert Howlett

... geographical ones; nor does the earth's magnetic equator quite coincide with the geographical equator. The direction of the magnetic needle in London, which is called the magnetic meridian, encloses an angle of 24 deg. with the astronomical meridian, this angle being called the Declination of the needle for London. The north, pole of the needle now lies to the west of the true meridian; the declination is westerly. In the year 1660, however, the declination was nothing, while before that time it was easterly. All this proves that the earth's magnetic ...
— Fragments of science, V. 1-2 • John Tyndall

... that already exists, which is what we have done in the arctic. The work is also not so nearly complete, since it will not be necessary to use the southern reservoir for storing weight for six months, or until the south pole, which is now at its maximum declination from the sun, is turned towards it and begins to move away; then, by increasing the amount of matter there, and at the same time lightening the north pole, and reversing the process every six months, we decrease the speed at ...
— A Journey in Other Worlds - A Romance of the Future • John Jacob Astor

... that this clearance of the ice, as also that in the beginning of May, coincided roughly with the maximum declination of the moon, and therefore with ...
— The Worst Journey in the World, Volumes 1 and 2 - Antarctic 1910-1913 • Apsley Cherry-Garrard

... miles; then with the Solar System spread out flat below him, he opened up his flight orders. His destination, he discovered, was Groombridge 34, a visual double star. Right ascension: zero hours, thirteen minutes. Declination: forty-three and four-tenths degrees. ...
— Next Door, Next World • Robert Donald Locke

... miles. Though the sun is quite vertical in passing over this mountain, and extremely hot, yet the thick fog is never dissipated. In our voyage we never lose sight of land, yet keep always at a considerable distance, carefully observing the declination of the sun, and keeping a southerly course till we arrive in four degrees on the equinoctial[7], when we suddenly change our course to the south-east, keeping the Ethiopian coast always on our left hand in our way to the island of St Thomas. On this coast, between the ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... be determined within a minute, that is to say, to the third of a league. But such an approximate exactitude was not possible in deciding longitudes. When once the different phenomena of the variations of the magnetic needle, either of declination or inclination, should be fully understood, it would be easy; but how to obtain this knowledge? It was well known that in the Indian Sea, between Bourbon, Madagascar, and Rodriguez, a variation of four degrees in the declination of the needle was equivalent to a variation of five degrees in ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century • Jules Verne

... of Good Hope. He began observing in April, 1832, and, the serious shortcomings of his instrument notwithstanding, executed during the thirteen months of his tenure of office a surprising amount of first-rate work. With a view to correcting the declination of the lustrous double star Alpha Centauri (which ranks after Sirius and Canopus as the third brightest orb in the heavens), he effected a number of successive determinations of its position, and on being ...
— A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century - Fourth Edition • Agnes M. (Agnes Mary) Clerke

... strong pull for the Church—whilst the Cross-Keys was infected with Romish predilections. The Cockpit was warlike; the Olive-Tree, pacific; the Royal Oak, patriotic; the Rummer, democratic; the Hole-in-the-Wall, seditious. Many a dolorous pull at the porter-pot and sapientious declination of his head had the perplexed and bemused editor, before he could effect any tolerable compromise of contradictions for the morning's issue: at the best, the sheet appeared full of signs and wonders!' In ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 441 - Volume 17, New Series, June 12, 1852 • Various

... his personal wishes, he was nominated by the Democracy for Judge of the Supreme Court. He consented to be a candidate only after the convention had positively refused to accept his declination. The Republican nominee was his law partner, the Hon. Franklin T. Backus, one of the most prominent members of the Cuyahoga Bar. The result was the election of Judge Ranney by a decided majority, and although party lines were closely drawn, he again ...
— Cleveland Past and Present - Its Representative Men, etc. • Maurice Joblin

... I next pushed my way through the reeds into the marsh, and at length clearly perceived that the waters which were perfectly sweet, after running several courses, flowed off to the north, towards which point there was an apparent declination or dip. Finding it impossible to proceed further, I regained the boat, and thence returned to the camp, under a conviction that I had reached the very spot, at which Mr. Oxley lost the channel of the river ...
— Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete • Charles Sturt

... wrong, then," cried the lady, hastily.—"You need not laugh; for I know what I am saying—the variation, the declination, must be allowed for in computing it with the clock. Now you know perfectly well what I mean, though you will not explain it for me, because you are conscious I ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. 6 • Maria Edgeworth

... called upon to defend my country (which every citizen is bound to do); but on public grounds also; for although I have abundant cause to be thankful for the good health with which I am blessed, yet I am not insensible to my declination in other respects. It would be criminal, therefore, in me, although it should be the wish of my countrymen and I could be elected, to accept an office under this conviction which another would discharge with more ability; and this, too, at a time when I am thoroughly ...
— George Washington, Vol. II • Henry Cabot Lodge

... as being one minute of arc. In view of this it is simply marvellous that, when the positions of Tycho's standard stars are compared with the best modern catalogues, his probable error in right ascension is only /- 24", 1, and in declination ...
— History of Astronomy • George Forbes

... the cachalot's tail the descent was gradual. Scarcely perceptible was its declination towards the water, upon which lay the two great flukes, slightly sunk below the surface, and extending on each side to ...
— The Ocean Waifs - A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea • Mayne Reid

... of the northern air, which is violently pushed on by the sun, and thus rendered more condensed and powerful. Empedocles, that the sun is hindered from a continual direct course by its spherical vehicle and by the two circular tropics. Diogenes, that the sun, when it comes to its utmost declination, is extinguished, a rigorous cold damping the heat. The Stoics, that the sun maintains its course only through that space in which its sustenance is seated, let it be the ocean or the earth; by the exhalations proceeding from these it is nourished. Plato, Pythagoras, and ...
— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch

... aerial ocean, we cannot doubt that such a connexion exists. The subject, however, is involved in much obscurity." At Viviers, it was observed that the number of rainy days was greatest at the first quarter, and least at the last. Mr. Howard has observed that, in this country, when the moon has south declination, there falls but a moderate quantity of rain, and that the quantity increases till she has attained the greatest northern declination. He thinks there is "evidence of a great tidal wave, or swell in ...
— The Rain Cloud - or, An Account of the Nature, Properties, Dangers and Uses of Rain • Anonymous

... The Declination of any point in the celestial sphere is its distance in arc, North or South of the celestial equator, i.e., N or S of ...
— Lectures in Navigation • Ernest Gallaudet Draper

... deterioration, retrogradation, diminution, retrogression, degeneracy, declension, declination, decay; progressive emaciation, marasmus. ...
— Putnam's Word Book • Louis A. Flemming

... declination of the sun, the light entering the camera is reflected from different portions of the sphere, and an alteration of the position of the focus results. This may be corrected in three ways; by moving (1) the paper, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 483, April 4, 1885 • Various

... This refers to the declination of the British Government to be represented at the San Francisco world exhibition, ...
— The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I • Burton J. Hendrick

... astronomy were not inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest angle of declination of the sun, 23 deg. 27', occurred when that luminary reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle of declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the sun had ...
— Vestiges of the Mayas • Augustus Le Plongeon

... comparatively mild, so that Heemskerk, with De Veer and another, walked to the strand. To their infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. But Barendz shook his head. Many days must elapse, he said, before the declination of the sun should be once more 14 deg., at which point in the latitude of 76 deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the 4th November, and at which only it could again be visible. This, according to his calculations, ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... we had a large theodolite and two smaller ones, intended for use on sledge expeditions, together with several sextants of different sizes. We had, moreover, four ship's chronometers and several pocket-chronometers. For magnetic observations, for taking the declination, inclination, and intensity (both horizontal and total intensity) we had a complete set of instruments. Among others may be mentioned a spectroscope especially adapted for the northern lights, an electroscope for determining the amount of electricity in the air, photographic ...
— Farthest North - Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896 • Fridtjof Nansen

... date may be traced the declination of Napoleon's greatness. In the field he was generally unsuccessful, and occasionally murmurs of discontent were whispered by citizen and soldier. The plot thickens in the eight volume, and his abdication of the throne ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Supplementary Number, Issue 263, 1827 • Various

... engine frequently gets red hot. The only accommodation for the traveller is a little bicycle seat, from which the aeronaut will direct his motor and steering gear by means of treadles. Then the inclination or declination of his machine must be noted on the spirit level at his side, and the 200 odd pounds of ballast must be regulated as ...
— The Dominion of the Air • J. M. Bacon

... pieces is fastened another board, on which is marked the hour circle, F. Through this board passes the lower end of the polar axis, having a shoulder turned up on it at K, and is secured by a wooden collar and pin underneath. On to the upper part of the polar axis is fastened the declination circle, C, 51/2 in. diameter, made of 1/4 in. baywood, having the outer rim of a thin compass card divided into degrees pasted on to it. The hour circle, F, is half of a similar card, with the hours painted underneath, and divided ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887 • Various

... been born but a few days when this occurred. The sun had some time since passed its lowest southern declination, and at meridian now threw flaunting streaks of yellow light upon the northern sky. On the day following his mistake with the sugar-bag, Cuthfert found himself feeling better, both in body and in spirit. As noontime drew near and the day brightened, he dragged himself outside to feast on ...
— The Son of the Wolf • Jack London

... that its range will be perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, and the projectile will pass the soonest beyond the range of terrestrial gravitation. But for the moon to reach the zenith of a place that place must not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary—in other words, it must be comprised between 0 deg. and 28 deg. of north or south latitude. In any other place the range must necessarily be oblique, which would seriously affect the success ...
— The Moon-Voyage • Jules Verne

... upon wrathful mobs bent on mischief. He quotes Plato's statement that "the greatest caution is to be taken not to suffer any change in well-moraled music, there being no corruption of manners in a republic so great as that which follows a gradual declination from a prudent and modest music; for whatever corruptions are made in music, the minds of the hearers will immediately suffer the same, it being certain that there is no way to the affections more open than ...
— The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 1 • Rupert Hughes

... Members had known Tod as well as I did, they would have known that he was not only a good story teller, but a sound, able, conservative business man, fully competent to deal with the great office for which he was nominated. His declination, however, prevented a controversy which would have been injurious, whatever might have been the result. An anecdote frequently told by him may, perhaps, explain ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... our almanack was blown overboard, and we have lost our reckoning. We never have our latitude exact now, for we cannot tell the sun's declination for the right day." ...
— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat

... magnetized needle of a compass has the property of arranging itself in the meridian, one end always pointing to the north and the other to the south; yet not exactly, but with a deflection or declination which varies from time to time in magnitude, and may be toward the ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XII, Jan. 3, 1891 • Various

... and tropical sign Capricorn on the 22nd, attaining his greatest austral declination at ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 10, Issue 285, December 1, 1827 • Various

... N. deviation; swerving &c. v.; obliquation|, warp, refraction; flection[obs3], flexion; sweep; deflection, deflexure[obs3]; declination. diversion, digression, depart from, aberration; divergence &c. 291; zigzag; detour &c. (circuit) 629; divagation. [Desultory motion] wandering &c. v.; vagrancy, evagation[obs3]; bypaths and crooked ways; byroad. [Motion sideways, oblique motion] sidling &c. v.; knight's move at chess. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... work, the nature of some of which we will treat of in the next chapter. Among others, the moon frequently shines there with great brilliancy in winter. Dr Kane says that in October the moon had reached her greatest northern declination: "She is a glorious object. Sweeping around the heavens, at the lowest part of her curve she is still 14 degrees above the horizon. For eight days she has been making her circuit with nearly unvarying brightness. It is one of those sparkling nights that bring back the memory of sleigh-bells ...
— The Ocean and its Wonders • R.M. Ballantyne

... fall in the bed of the Bogan is only 50 feet between Muda and New Year's Range, in a distance of upwards of 100 miles. The general course of the Bogan changes at Muda from N.W. to north, the former being nearly in the direction of the general declination of the country, the latter rather across it, of which the overflowings of the parallel river Macquarie into Duck Creek, and other channels to the westward, seemed to afford sufficient proofs. Where the declination is least, ...
— Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia • Thomas Mitchell

... Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now, this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving around the earth and in the heavens, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth recurring at long intervals of time: when this happens, those who live upon the mountains and in dry and lofty places ...
— The Antediluvian World • Ignatius Donnelly

... Regions," says: "The geographical determination of the direction and intensity of the magnetic forces at different points of the earth's surface has been regarded as an object worthy of especial research. To examine in different parts of the globe, the declination, inclination and intensity of the magnetic force, and their periodical and secular variations, and mutual relations and dependencies could be duly investigated ...
— The Smoky God • Willis George Emerson

... be assumed to be constant, for I won't bother with the precessions, nutations and other minor movements considered in accurate computations. As the earth moves around the sun, this tilt gives rise to what we call the sun's declination. You can readily see that at one time in the year, the north pole will be at its nearest point to the sun, speaking in terms of tilt and not in miles, while at another point on the elliptic, it will be farthest from the sun and the south pole nearest. ...
— The Solar Magnet • Sterner St. Paul Meek

... 1300. It was soon discovered that the needle does not point, in all places, truly to the North Pole, but that it varies considerably in different degrees of longitude, and this is called the variation of the needle. It has also another variation, called the declination, or dip. The cause of these phenomena is still utterly unknown. The means of steering with almost perfect accuracy across the pathless ocean, gave a confidence to mariners, when they lost sight of land, which they had never before possessed, and in time induced ...
— How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves - Updated to 1900 • W.H.G. Kingston

... jib, a palm, sail needles and twine, and many other useful articles; and beside these, one of the ship's compasses, True Blue's quadrant, given him by Sir Henry; and also the larger part of a long sweep, and two small spars. Curiously enough, also, a page of an old navigation book, with the sun's declination for ...
— True Blue • W.H.G. Kingston

... These opposite outlines contract the southern side to about 500 miles, and open the northern side to rather above 800 miles; giving a mean breadth of 650 miles. The area, for all general purposes, may be safely taken at 500,000 square miles. The general slope or declination of this great region is westward, towards the ...
— The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California • Brevet Col. J.C. Fremont

... not dirty green, glistens with yellowish foam, and as you approach the shore, tall ghastly cliffs, like the skeletons of giants, stand up to receive or ready to repel. During the greater part of the sun's Dakhshanayan (southern declination) the country is covered with a sort of cold white stuff which dazzles the eyes; and at such times the air is obscured with what appears to be a shower of white feathers or flocks of cotton. At other seasons ...
— Vikram and the Vampire • Sir Richard F. Burton

... position that his language had been proper and privileged, and that he did not propose to accept a challenge or discuss the matter with any one. He assured Graves that this declination to pursue the matter further was not to be construed as a reflection upon the bearer of the challenge. There was no quarrel whatever between Cilley and Graves. Nevertheless, Graves took the ground that the refusal to accept the challenge which he had brought was a reflection upon him. He thereupon ...
— South American Fights and Fighters - And Other Tales of Adventure • Cyrus Townsend Brady

... word "Regrets" on one's visiting card and send it in declination of any invitation is bad form, even if the invitation come in similar shape. One should always write ...
— The Etiquette of To-day • Edith B. Ordway

... was twelve leagues. An attempt was made by the same gentleman to determine the longitude of the bay, by means of an eclipse of the moon which occurred on the 3d January (1768); but the excessive rain which continued through the whole day and night frustrated his endeavours. The declination of the needle was observed by the azimuth-compass to be 22 deg. 30' 32" N.E., and its inclination from the elevation of the pole, 11 deg. 11'. Such is the poor amount of the astronomical labours for nearly a month, in this so uncourteous a season and climate. During this long and disagreeable ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13 • Robert Kerr

... political purposes, in writing his "Arcadia": "In all these creatures of his making, his interest and scope was, to turn the barren philosophy precepts into pregnant images of life; and in them, first on the monarchs part, lively to represent the growth, state and declination of princes, changes of government and lawes ... Then again in the subjects case, the state of favour, disfavour, prosperitie, adversity ... and all other moodes of private fortunes or misfortunes, in which traverses, I know, his purpose was to limn out such exact pictures of every posture in the ...
— The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare • J. J. Jusserand

... from the pinnacles of art no honour will be lost; for the condescensions of learning are always overpaid by gratitude. An elevated genius employed in little things, appears, to use the simile of Longinus, like the sun in his evening declination: he remits his splendour but retains his magnitude, and pleases ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, In Nine Volumes - Volume the Third: The Rambler, Vol. II • Samuel Johnson

... on the one side or other. The vse hereof in Geography is but litle only to shew what people they are ouer whose heads the Sunne comes to bee once or twice a yeare; who are all those that dwell with in 23. degrees of the Aequator; for so much is the declination, or sloping of the Zodiacke. This circle is also called the Eclipticke line, because when the Sunne and Moone stand both in this circle opposite each to other, then there happens an Eclipse of the Sunne or Mone, vpon a globe it is easily discerned, by the sloping of it from ...
— A Briefe Introduction to Geography • William Pemble

... probabilities. Not a moment was allowed them to take measures for securing the safety of their companion. Before they could recover from the surprise, with which his first shout had inspired them, they saw that his descent was every moment becoming more accelerated: now in gradual declination, then in quick, short jerks—until he had got within about twenty-feet of the ground. They were in hopes that he might continue to descend in this fashion for a few yards further, and then the danger would be over; but, just at that moment, the broad breast of the kite was seen poising itself ...
— The Cliff Climbers - A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters" • Captain Mayne Reid

... remarks may sufficiently appear. The needle points exactly north only in a few places, and perhaps not constantly in them; but in most it declines a little to the east, or to the west, whence arises eastern and western declination: when this was first observed, it was attributed to certain excavations or hollows in the earth, to veins of lead, stone, and other such-like causes. But when it was found by repeated experiments that this ...
— Early Australian Voyages • John Pinkerton

... iron, or a poker, for a length of time parallel to the direction of the needle, so as to have the same declination and the same dip, it will gradually assume and display magnetic virtue, and this will ere long become fixed and powerful under a succession of vibratory shocks. There is a beautiful experiment in which a needle, when magnetised, can be made to float on water, when ...
— Lectures on Popular and Scientific Subjects • John Sutherland Sinclair, Earl of Caithness

... meteorological influences, or the thickness of the stratum of the rich loam, the result of the decay of vegetable life, accumulated on the roofs and terraces of the buildings, not to speak of their position respecting the pole-star and the declination of ...
— The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries • Stephen Salisbury, Jr.

... projectile will soonest pass beyond the range of the terrestrial attraction. But, in order that the moon should reach the zenith of a given place, it is necessary that the place should not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary; in other words, it must be comprised within the degrees 0@ and 28@ of lat. N. or S. In every other spot the fire must necessarily be oblique, which would seriously militate against the ...
— Jules Verne's Classic Books • Jules Verne

... of being home last night, and hated to wake. Jumped up at first light, called boys and built fire, and put on kettles. We must be moving with more ginger. It is a nasty feeling to see the days slipping by and note the sun's lower declination, and still not know our way. Outlet hunting is hell on nerves, temper and equanimity. You paddle miles and miles, into bay after bay, bay after bay, with maybe no result till you are hopeless. Ugh! This is a great relief to be about to start ...
— A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador • Mina Benson Hubbard (Mrs. Leonidas Hubbard, Junior)

... several invitations to luncheon after the meeting adjourned, but he accepted none of them. To Adair he made the declination courteous while they were trundling back to the Waldorf ...
— Empire Builders • Francis Lynde

... the race for governor in 1795, his party's weakness discovered itself in the selection of Chief Justice Robert Yates, Hamilton's coalition candidate in 1789. It was a makeshift nomination, since none cared to run after Clinton's declination sounded a note of defeat. Yates' passion for office led him into strange blunders. He seemed willing to become the candidate of any party, under any conditions, at any time, if only he could step into ...
— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

... "It was the 'Declination of Independence,'" said Diddie. "It's in the little history; and it wasn't any fightin', it was a writin'; and there's the picture of it in the book; and all the men are settin' roun', and one of ...
— Diddie, Dumps & Tot - or, Plantation child-life • Louise-Clarke Pyrnelle

... "constrain me to decline the nomination, and leave the field to those whose avocations and private affairs will enable them to devote the requisite portion of their time to the canvass."[106] Inasmuch as Sangamon County usually sent a Whig delegation to the legislature, this declination could hardly have cost him many hours of painful deliberation.[107] At all events his avocations did not prevent him from making every effort to carry the ...
— Stephen A. Douglas - A Study in American Politics • Allen Johnson

... is an elbow of land lying between the equator and the 11th degree of north latitude, which, from its peculiar form, might well be designated the Eastern Horn of Africa. The land is high in the north, and has a general declination, as may be seen by the river system, to the south and eastward, but with less easting as ...
— What Led To The Discovery of the Source Of The Nile • John Hanning Speke

... unfailing charm to their society. One can maintain the most cordial and intimate relations with editors of magazines and journals if he will recognize that such relations should have no influence whatever in the acceptance or declination of manuscripts. I am constantly receiving letters from literary aspirants who appear to think that if I will use a little influence their stories or papers would be taken and paid for. I have no such influence, nor do I wish any, in regard to my ...
— Taken Alive • E. P. Roe

... laws to repress them. For as it hath been well observed, that the arts which flourish in times while virtue is in growth, are military; and while virtue is in state, are liberal; and while virtue is in declination, are voluptuary: so I doubt that this age of the world is somewhat upon the descent of the wheel. With arts voluptuary I couple practices joculary; for the deceiving of the senses is one of the pleasures of the senses. ...
— The Advancement of Learning • Francis Bacon

... under his feet the stately monument which Dionysius had been at such pains to erect; but because it was a sundial on which he stood when he was made general, they expressed some fears that the great actions he had performed might be subject to change, and admit some rapid turn and declination of fortune. ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... laws. Even the celebrated Halley, at the end of the seventeenth century, hollowed out the Earth in his magnetic speculations. Men were invited to believe that a subterranean freely-rotating nucleus occasions by its position the diurnal and annual changes of magnetic declination. It has thus been attempted in our own day, with tedious solemnity, to clothe in a scientific garb the quaintly-devised ...
— COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 • Alexander von Humboldt

... done, or by the heavens portended, but we know it, except only the day of doom. Wherefore, Faustus, learn of me: I will teach thee the course and re-course of the planets, the cause of winter and summer, the exaltation and declination of the sun, and eclipse of the moon, the distance and height of the poles and every fixed star, the nature and opposition of the elements—fire, air, water, and earth—and all that is contained in them; yea, herein there is nothing hidden from me, but only the filthy ...
— Mediaeval Tales • Various

... smallest object that can be seen by a keen eye makes an angle of 40", but by putting six microscopes on the scale of the telescope on the mural circle, we are able to reach an exactness of 0".1, or 1/3600 of an inch. This instrument is used to measure the declination of stars, or angular [Page 64] distance north or south of the equator. Thus a star's place in two directions is exactly fixed. When the telescope is mounted on two pillars instead of the face of a wall, it is called a transit instrument. This is used to determine the time of transit ...
— Recreations in Astronomy - With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic Work • Henry Warren

... already said, the topography of the place is peculiar; the lone cottonwood standing on the crest of a couteau de prairie, whose sides slope east and west. It resembles the roof of a house, but with gentler declination. Similarly situated on the summit of the ridge, is the boulder, but with nearly a league's length between ...
— The Death Shot - A Story Retold • Mayne Reid

... the help of a workman. When the atoms, says he, descend in infinite space (very ingeniously spoken, to make high and low in infinity), they do not fall plumb down, but decline a little from the perpendicular, either obliquely or in a curve; and this declination, says he, from the direct line is the cause of our liberty of will. But, I say, this declination of atoms in their descent was itself either necessary or voluntary. If it was necessary, how then could that necessity ...
— A Theory of Creation: A Review of 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation' • Francis Bowen

... fondness for simplicity, or possessing scruples against kingly institutions, may escape the state carriage by despatching a firm and prompt declination of the honor. But the chaprassis remain; and the elephant, already trudging to the base of the Ambir hills to await your coming, cannot be countermanded or headed off. In this charming manner the great Maharajah entertains ...
— East of Suez - Ceylon, India, China and Japan • Frederic Courtland Penfield

... engraved upon my memory," said Baron von Stein, smiling. "But, inasmuch as I am also of your majesty's opinion that such officials as you have described me to be are most injurious to the interests of the monarchy, I must request your majesty to accept my declination, and I hope it ...
— Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia • L. Muhlbach

... with a show of feeling he said: "It may be so. At any rate I will not do it. If the convention nominates me I will promptly send my declination. If it nominates me and adjourns I will call it together again and it will ...
— Marse Henry, Complete - An Autobiography • Henry Watterson

... Man directed to himself. This, it must be confessed, is of a Piece with the rest of that hopeful Philosophy, which having patch'd Man up out of the four Elements, attributes his Being to Chance, and derives all his Actions from an unintelligible Declination of Atoms. And for these glorious Discoveries the Poet is beyond Measure transported in the Praises of his Hero, as if he must needs be something more than Man, only for an Endeavour to prove that Man is in ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... physical situation of the first colonists, encamped on the very beach of the wide ocean with an illimitable forest in their rear. Their provisions were scanty. They grew watchful of the strange soil, of the new skies, of the unknown climate. Even upon the voyage over, John Winthrop thought that "the declination of the pole star was much, even to the view, beneath that it is in England," and that "the new moon, when it first appeared, was much smaller than at any time he had seen it in England." Here was a man evidently using his eyes with a new interest in ...
— The American Spirit in Literature, - A Chronicle of Great Interpreters, Volume 34 in The - Chronicles Of America Series • Bliss Perry

... shall go on to deale with the utmost candor, forasmuch as in this Nation the nicety of that most eloquent language is not so perfectly understood, which gives occasion to these mistakes. I confess therefore that indeed in the declination of the Latin tongue, and when there scarce could be found out words enough to supply the modern ambition of Titles, Serenissimus as several other words hath grown in fashion for a compellation of lesser as well as greater Princes, and yet ...
— Andrew Marvell • Augustine Birrell

... has an equatorial which is mounted on a tripod stand, made by himself. It contains the right ascension, declination, and azimuth index, all neatly carved upon slate. In his spectroscope he makes his prisms out of the skylights used in vessels. These he grinds down to suit his purpose. I have not been able to go into the complete detail of the manner in which he effects ...
— Men of Invention and Industry • Samuel Smiles

... 5, 1898, the Spray sailed for a home port, heading first direct for Cape Hatteras. On the 8th of June she passed under the sun from south to north; the sun's declination on that day was 22 degrees 54', and the latitude of the Spray was the same just before noon. Many think it is excessively hot right under the sun. It is not necessarily so. As a matter of fact the thermometer stands at a ...
— Sailing Alone Around The World • Joshua Slocum

... soldier, the Laird of Balmawhapple like a sportsman, Bullsegg of Killancureit like a farmer, Waverley himself like a traveller, and Bailie Macwheeble like all four together; though, either out of more respect, or in order to preserve that proper declination of person which showed a sense that he was in the presence of his patron, he sat upon the edge of his chair, placed at three feet distance from the table, and achieved a communication with his plate by projecting his person ...
— Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete • Sir Walter Scott

... design of finding a certain method of discovering the longitude, which he imagined himself to have attained by exact observations of the declination and inclination of the needle, and sent to the academy of sciences, and to the Royal society of London, at the same time, an account of his schemes; to which it was first answered by the Royal society, that it appeared the ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 6 - Reviews, Political Tracts, and Lives of Eminent Persons • Samuel Johnson

... that great work was the only literature on board, he often interpreted it, and he was counted a great scholar. Then, he could actually use a sextant, and his way of working out his latitude was chaste and picturesque. Supposing he made the sun 29 deg. 18 min., and the declination for the day was 6 deg. 34 min. 22 sec., then he put down ...
— The Chequers - Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in - a Loafer's Diary • James Runciman

... of the English type, in which the telescope tube is supported by the declination trunnions between the arms of the polar axis, built in the form of a rectangular yoke carried by bearings on massive pedestals to the north and south. These bearings must be aligned exactly parallel ...
— The New Heavens • George Ellery Hale

... I had the honour of an interview with Humboldt, in Berlin, and his parting words to me then were, 'Tell Faraday that I entirely agree with him, and that he has, in my opinion, completely explained the variation of the declination.' Eminent men have since informed me that Humboldt was hasty in expressing this opinion. In fact, Faraday's memoirs on atmospheric magnetism lost much of their force—perhaps too much—through the important ...
— Faraday As A Discoverer • John Tyndall

... the radiant point is only approximately given; for scientific purposes a far more exact position is required in terms of right ascension and declination. There are several good lists of meteoric showers to be obtained, which afford this information for those who care to pursue the matter more in detail. See the Rev. T.W. Webb's book, entitled Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes. For purposes of identification, the radiant points here ...
— A Field Book of the Stars • William Tyler Olcott

... neglect of honours has been of rare example in the world[3]: Few men have frowned first upon fortune, and precipitated themselves from the top of her wheel, before they felt at least the declination of it. We read not of many emperors like Dioclesian and Charles the Fifth, who have preferred a garden and a cloister before a crowd of followers, and the troublesome glory of an active life, which robs the ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of 18) - Amboyna; The state of Innocence; Aureng-Zebe; All for Love • John Dryden

... the moon's distance and motion are accurately known, and may be taken from the Nautical Almanac, being all embodied in the moon's parallax or semi-diameter, and in the declination and right ascension; but for the most important element,—the moon's mass, we in vain look to astronomy. In fact, it may be averred that the importance attached to astronomical authority, concerning ...
— Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms - Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence • T. Bassnett

... told them, that while his strength was yet entire, his body free from a fever, and his mind able to endure, they might freely use their art; cut and search to the bottom; but if they should neglect their art, and renew torments in the declination of nature, their ignorance, or over-tenderness would prove a kind of tyranny to their friend, and reflect no ...
— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Volume I. • Theophilus Cibber

... opposite party was undergoing the same process of oscillation. It was clear enough that Cowie was the required Oedipus; and if it should turn out that he was dead, or could not be found, the advantage was, with a slight declination, on the part of Charles Napier; insomuch as, while he was indisputably the nephew of the deceased, the orphan, Henrietta, was under the necessity of proving her birth and pedigree. And so, as it appeared, Mr. Dallas was of that opinion, ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. XXIII. • Various

... fleeced? Ugly stories concerning the government emissary's continuous winnings, disastrous losses of the young subalterns inveigled into gambling through fear of his official displeasure, were not unknown to Hugh. A civil declination was on his lips; but keenly searching the shrivelled face leering into his own, Hugh saw written there something that compelled consideration, challenged a refusal. Promptly and in affirmative speech he ...
— Nedra • George Barr McCutcheon

... different from any of those which had been used by the earlier observers. The method of observing which Bruennow employed was quite different from that of Struve, though the filar micrometer was used in both cases. Bruennow sought to determine the parallactic ellipse by measuring the difference in declination between 61 Cygni and the comparison star.[38] In the course of a year it is found that the difference in declination undergoes a periodic change, and from that change the parallactic ellipse can be computed. In the first series of observations ...
— The Story of the Heavens • Robert Stawell Ball

... able Secretaries of State. He was one of the few men who have been conceded to be a great success in the office of Secretary of State. His management of the complicated Trent affair, the manner of his declination of the French proposal to unite with Great Britain and Russia in mediating between the Federal and Confederate governments, and his thorough reorganization of the diplomatic service abroad, thus insuring a correct interpretation by foreign powers ...
— Hidden Treasures - Why Some Succeed While Others Fail • Harry A. Lewis

... would be in an exact line. Bryce's idea of having to wait three months must have been conceived in the belief that the 3rd or 4th June would answer equally well. It might, but I'm not so sure about it. I guess there'd be a lot of difference in the declination of the sun. But now the tree's gone we're left without that seemingly ...
— The Lost Valley • J. M. Walsh

... the considerable displacement of the periods of culmination which is indicated by the series of observations, and which in the immediate neighbourhood of the Pole is caused by the change in the sun's declination. On the day of the observations this displacement amounted to thirty minutes in 89deg. 57', forty-six minutes in 89deg. 58', and over an hour and a half in 89deg. 59'. The upper culmination occurred ...
— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... Smith regarding sundry points in military history. General Schenck; his reminiscences of Corwin Everett, and others. Resignation of my presidency at Cornell, 1885. President Cleveland's tender of an Interstate Railway commissionership, my declination. Departure for Europe. Am tendered nomination for Congress; my discussion of the matter in London with President Porter of Yale and others; declination. Visit to Washington under the administration of General Harrison, January, 1891; presentation ...
— Volume I • Andrew Dickson White

... a star is generally denoted by its right ascension ([alpha]) and its declination ([delta]). Taking into account the apparent distribution of the stars in space, it is, however, more practical to characterize the position of a star by its galactic longitude (l) and its galactic latitude (b). Before defining these coordinates, which will be generally ...
— Lectures on Stellar Statistics • Carl Vilhelm Ludvig Charlier

... that proposition before. We beat the brush pretty thoroughly at that time." It was declination involved, but declination nevertheless unmistakable. "It's a rocky road I'm on, and with occasional mudholes such as—well—such as I fell into to-night; but somehow I can't leave it. I won't try to defend it this time. I'm not ...
— The Dominant Dollar • Will Lillibridge

... the centre, the horizon was the invariable and eternal circle of the world. The magnetic needle in the binnacle was the point on which the Mary Turner ever pivoted. The sun rose in the undoubted east and set in the undoubted west, corrected and proved, of course, by declination, deviation, and variation; and the nightly march of the stars and constellations proceeded ...
— Michael, Brother of Jerry • Jack London

... not declination with humility; the manner of the man of the road contained a hint that anybody who drank or smoked was no better than he should be. The girl studied him ...
— The Landloper - The Romance Of A Man On Foot • Holman Day

... a descent in the bed of the river. In some places this declination is gradual, in others sudden and abrupt. Where the current is broken by masses of limestone or granite rock, as at the Cascades, the Cedars, and the Long Sault, it creates whirlpools and cataracts. But the rapids below Montreal are not of this magnificent character, being made perceptible ...
— The Backwoods of Canada • Catharine Parr Traill



Words linked to "Declination" :   ascent, celestial latitude, astronomy, dec, declivity, condition, declension, status, angular distance, descent, side, regrets, downhill, uranology, disuse, acknowledgement, slope, downslope, decline, acknowledgment, steep, twilight, wreck, fall



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