Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (v. i.) To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend. 2. (v. i.) To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines. 3. (v. i.) To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals. 4. (v. i.) To turn away; to shun; to refuse; -- the opposite of accept or consent; as, he declined, upon principle. 5. (v. t.) To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall. 6. (v. t.) To cause to decrease or diminish. 7. (v. t.) To put or turn aside; to turn off or away from; to refuse to undertake or comply with; reject; to shun; to avoid; as, to decline an offer; to decline a contest; he declined any participation with them. 8. (v. t.) To inflect, or rehearse in order the changes of grammatical form of; as, to decline a noun or an adjective. 9. (v. t.) To run through from first to last; to repeat like a schoolboy declining a noun. 10. (n.) A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion. 11. (v. i.) That period of a disorder or paroxysm when the symptoms begin to abate in violence; as, the decline of a fever. 12. (n.) A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia DECLINE de-klin' [(cur], or sur, naTah): In the King James Version this word occurs 9 times in its original sense (now obsolete) of "turn aside." the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "turn aside" in Exodus 23:2 Deuteronomy 17:11 2 Chronicles 34:2; Job 23:11. In Psalm 102:11; Psalm 109:23, the lengthening shadows of afternoon are said to "decline," and the Revised Version (British and American) introduces the word in the same general sense in Judges 19:8 2 Kings 20:10; Jeremiah 6:4. See AFTERNOON.

Multi-Version Concordance Decline (10 Occurrences) Luke 9:12 Now when the day began to decline, the Twelve came to Him and said, "Send the people away, that they may go to the villages and farms round about and find lodging and a supply of food; because here we are in an uninhabited district." (WEY DBY WBS YLT) Luke 24:29 and they constrained him, saying, 'Remain with us, for it is toward evening,' and the day did decline, and he went in to remain with them. (YLT) 1 Timothy 5:11 But younger widows decline; for when they grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, (DBY) Exodus 23:2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment: (KJV WBS) Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. (KJV DBY WBS) 2 Kings 20:10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten steps: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps. (ASV JPS NAS) Psalms 119:157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. (KJV DBY WBS) Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS) Proverbs 7:25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS) Isaiah 30:11 Turn aside from the way, decline from the path, Cause to cease from before us the Holy One of Israel.' (YLT)