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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Decay \De*cay"\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Decayed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Decaying}.] [OF. decaeir, dechaer, decheoir, F. d['e]choir, to decline, fall, become less; L. de- + cadere to fall. See {Chance}.] To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. --Goldsmith.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Decay \De*cay"\, verb (used with an object)
1. To cause to decay; to impair. [R.]
Infirmity, that decays the wise. --Shak.
2. To destroy. [Obs.] --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Decay \De*cay"\, noun
1. Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; as, the decay of the body; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay.
Perhaps my God, though he be far before, May turn, and take me by the hand, and more May strengthen my decays. --Herbert.
His [Johnson's] failure was not to be ascribed to intellectual decay. --Macaulay.
Which has caused the decay of the consonants to follow somewhat different laws. --James Byrne.
2. Destruction; death. [Obs.] --Spenser.
3. Cause of decay. [R.]
He that plots to be the only figure among ciphers, is the decay of the whole age. --Bacon.
Syn: Decline; consumption. See {Decline}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
decay
noun
1: the process of gradually becoming inferior
2: a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current [syn: {decline}]
3: the organic phenomenon of rotting [syn: {decomposition}]
4: an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying; "the corpse was in an advanced state of decay"; "the house had fallen into a serious state of decay and disrepair"
5: the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation [syn: {radioactive decay}, {disintegration}]
verb
1: lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current; "the particles disintegrated during the nuclear fission process" [syn: {disintegrate}, {decompose}]
2: fall into decay or ruin; "The unoccupied house started to decay" [syn: {crumble}, {delapidate}]
3: undergo decay or decomposition; "The body started to decay and needed to be cremated"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
154 Moby Thesaurus words for "decay": ablate, ablation, atomization, atomize, atrophy, biodegradability, biodegradation, break down, break up, breakup, canker, caries, carrion, catalysis, catalyst, collapse, come apart, consume, contaminate, corrode, corrosion, corrupt, corruption, crack up, crumble, crumble into dust, crumbling, curdle, dandruff, debilitate, decadence, decline, decompose, decomposition, decrease, defile, degenerate, degeneration, degradability, degradation, deteriorate, deterioration, dialysis, dilapidate, dilapidation, diminish, disintegrate, disintegration, disjoin, disjunction, disorganization, disorganize, dissociation, dissolution, dissolve, downfall, dry rot, dwindle, ebb, enfeeble, erode, erosion, excrement, fading, failing, fall into decay, fall to pieces, ferment, fester, filth, fission, foul matter, foulness, furfur, gangrene, go bad, go off, go to pieces, go to pot, go to seed, hydrolysis, hydrolyst, incoherence, mess, mildew, mold, molder, mortification, mortify, mould, moulder, muck, mucus, necrose, necrosis, obscenity, ordure, oxidation, oxidization, perish, photolysis, pollute, pus, putrefaction, putrefy, putresce, putrescence, putrid matter, putridity, putridness, rancidity, rancidness, rankle, rankness, ravages of time, resolution, rot, rottenness, rotting, ruin, rust, sap, scurf, scuz, slime, slough, smut, snot, sordes, sour, sphacelate, sphacelation, sphacelus, split, splitting, spoil, spoilage, suppurate, taint, thermolysis, tooth decay, turn, undermine, wane, waste away, wasting, weaken, weakening, wear, wear and tear, wear away, wither, work, wreck
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
decay n.,vi [from nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to most array-valued expressions in {C}; they 'decay into' pointer-valued expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is borderline techspeak, but is not used in the official standard for the language.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
decay [Nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to most array-valued expressions in {C}; they "decay into" pointer-valued expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is not used in the official standard for the language. [{Jargon File}]
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