Pronunciation Noun
decay
- The process or result of being gradually decomposed.
- A deterioration of condition; loss of status or fortune.
- French: décrépitude
- German: Verfall, Verwesung
- Portuguese: deterioração, apodrecimento, putrefação, decomposição
- Russian: разложе́ние
- Russian: упа́док
decay (decays, present participle decaying; past and past participle decayed)
- (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
- The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.
- (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
- (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
- (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
- 2009, Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise, page 120:
- Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed.
- 2009, Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise, page 120:
- (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.
- The cat's body decayed rapidly.
- (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons.
- 2005, Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ISBN 0-8160-4973-4, page 349:
- Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.
- 2005, Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ISBN 0-8160-4973-4, page 349:
- (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
- (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.
- (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.
- The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.
- c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene v]:
- Infirmity, that decays the wise.
- French: pourrir
- German: verfallen, verderben
- Portuguese: decompor-se, deteriorar
- Russian: по́ртиться
- Spanish: deteriorar
- German: verfaulen, verrotten, verwesen
- Portuguese: apodrecer, estragar, putrefazer
- Russian: разлага́ться
- Spanish: pudrir
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.010
