Part 81

2. To prepare by the heat of the stomach for assimilation; to digest; to concoct.

3. To warm, strengthen, or invigorate, as if by boiling. [R.] "Decoct their cold blood." Shak.

De*coct"i*ble (?), a. Capable of being boiled or digested.

De*coc"tion (?), n. [F. décoction, L. decoctio.] 1. The act or process of boiling anything in a watery fluid to extract its virtues.

In decoction . . . it either purgeth at the top or settleth at the bottom.

Bacon.

2. An extract got from a body by boiling it in water.

If the plant be boiled in water, the strained liquor is called the decoction of the plant.

Arbuthnot.

In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where there is merely steeping.

Latham.

De*coc"ture (?; 135), n. A decoction. [R.]

De*col"late (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decollated; p. pr. & vb. n. Decollating.] [L. decollatus, p. p. of decollare to behead; de- + collum neck.] To sever from the neck; to behead; to decapitate.

The decollated head of St. John the Baptist.

Burke.

De*col"la*ted (?), a. (Zoöl.) Decapitated; worn or cast off in the process of growth, as the apex of certain univalve shells.

De`col*la"tion (?), n. [L. decollatio: cf. F. décollation.] 1. The act of beheading or state of one beheaded; -- especially used of the execution of St. John the Baptist.

2. A painting representing the beheading of a saint or martyr, esp. of St. John the Baptist.

||Dé`col`le*té" (?), a. [F., p. p. of décolleter to bare the neck and shoulders; dé- + collet collar, fr. L. collum neck.] Leaving the neck and shoulders uncovered; cut low in the neck, or low-necked, as a dress.

De*col"ling (?), n. Beheading. [R.]

By a speedy dethroning and decolling of the king.

Parliamentary History (1648).

De*col"or (?), v. t. [Cf. F. décolorer, L. decolorare. Cf. Discolor.] To deprive of color; to bleach.

De*col"or*ant (?), n. [Cf. F. décolorant, p. pr.] A substance which removes color, or bleaches.

De*col"or*ate (?), a. [L. decoloratus, p. p. of decolorare.] Deprived of color.

De*col"or*ate (?), v. t. To decolor.

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De*col`or*a"tion (?), n. [L. decoloratio: cf. F. décoloration.] The removal or absence of color. Ferrand.