decreasing function

IMG:content-1966.png:[blocks in formation] (1) The judgment or decision of a judicial court in any matter. "The decree is either interlocutory or final."- Black stone: Comment . , bk. iii., ch. xviii. *(2) The award or decision of an umpire in any case submitted to his arbitration. 2. Theology : The predetermined purpose of God concerning future events. "The last leaf which by Heaven's decree Must hang upon a blasted tree." Words worth: White Doe of Rylstone , ii. 3. Eccles .: A judicial decision of the Papal Court at Rome; an ordinance, which is enacted by the pope himself, by and with the advice of his cardi nals in council a embled, without being consulted by any one thereon. ( Ayliffe .) [DECRETAL.] and proclamation : "A decree is a more solemn and Crabb thus discriminates between decree , edict , deliberative act than an edict ; on the other hand an edict is more authoritative: a decree is the decision of one or many; an edict speaks the will of an individual: councils and senates, as well as princes, make decrees ; despotic rulers i ue edicts . Decrees are pa ed for the regulation of public and private matters; they are made known as occasion requires, but are not always public; edicts and proc lama tions contain the commands of the sovereign authority, and are directly addre ed by the prince to his people. An edict is peculiar to a despotic government; a proclamation is common to a monarchical and an aristocratic form of government: , pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot = IMG:content-1967.png:[blocks in formation] cially. 2. Theol .: To predetermine the course of future events; to establish immutably. "Well hop'd we then to meet on this fair shore, Whom Heaven, alas! decreed to meet no more," Pope : Homer's Ody ey, xxiv. 365, 366. B. In trans. To determine, to establish, to decide. "All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all As my eternal purpose hath decreed ." Milton: P. L. , iii. 171, 172. dě-crée-a-ble, a. [Eng. decree; -able .] That may or can be decreed. dě-crēed', pa.par.ora. [DECREE, v.] dě-cree-ing, pr. par., a. & s. [DECREE, υ.] A. & B. As pr. par. & particip. adj.: (See the verb.) C. As subst.: The act of establishing, determining, or fixing a decree. †dě-crē-er, s. [Eng. decre(e); -er.] One who i ues a decree; one who ordains or determines. "In thy book it is written of me, says Christ; that I should do thy will; he is not willing only, but the first decreer of it, it is written of me." Good win: Works, vol. 1., pt. iii., p. 103. IMG:content-1968.png:[blocks in formation] verb.) C. As substantive: me 2. Chem. The crackling noise which several salts make when suddenly heated, accompanied by a violent exfoliation of their particles, due to the sudden conversion into steam of the water which is m chanically inclosed between the solid particles of the body; or to the unequal expansion of the lamine of which the mineral is composed in consequence of their being imperfect conductors of heat. The true cleavage of minerals may be often detected in this way, for they fly asunder at their natural fi ures. ( Watts : Dict . Chem .)