Di*min"ish (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Diminished (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Diminishing.] [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.
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, ∨ 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.
© Webster 1913.
Di*min"ish, v. i.
To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.
© Webster 1913.