decimalize (desimaliz)

t.; pret. and pp. decimalized, ppr. decimalizing. [ decimate (des'i-mat), v. t.; pret. and pp. dec i ma mated, ppr.. decimating. [L. [ F. décimer = Sp. (obs.) Pg. dec i mar It. decimare = D. decimeren = G. dec i miren = Dan. decimere = Sw. decimera ), select the tenth by lot (for punishment), pay tithes, I have heard you are as poor as a decimated Cavalier [referring to Cromwell's 10 per cent. income-tax on Cavaliers], and had not one foot of land in all the world. Dryden, Wild Gallant, ii. 2. 2. To select by lot and put to death every tenth man of: as, to decimate a captured army or a body of prisoners or mutineers (a barbarity occasionally practised in antiquity). God sometimes decimates or tithes delinquent persons, and they die for a common crime, according as God hath cast their lot in the decrees of predestination. Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), I. 280. 3. Loosely, to destroy a great but indefinite number or proportion of: as, the inhabitants were decimated by fever; the troops were dec i mated by the enemy's fire. It [England] had decimated itself for a question which involved no principle, and led to no result. Froude, Hist. Eng. decimation (des-i-ma's hon), n. [= F. décima tion = Pg. decimação = It. decimazione, By decimation , and a tithed death, take thou the destin'd tenth. Shak ., T. of A., v. 5. And the whole army had cause to enquire into their own rebellions, when they saw the Lord of Hosts, with a dreadful decimation , taking off so many of our brethren by the worst of executioners. C. Mather , Mag, Chris., v. 9. 3. The destruction of a great but indefinite number or proportion of people, as of an army or of the inhabitants of a country; a heavy lo of life.