declination

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A sloping or bending downward.
2. n. A falling off, especially from prosperity or vigor; a decline.
3. n. A deviation, as from a specific direction or standard.
4. n. A refusal to accept.
5. n. Magnetic declination.
6. n. Astronomy The angular distance to a point on a celestial object, measured north or south from the celestial equator.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A bending or sloping downward; a sloping or bending from a higher to a lower level; subsidence: as, the declination of the shore.
2. n. A falling to a lower or inferior condition; deterioration; decline: as, declination in or of vigor, virtue, morals, etc.
3. n. Deviation from a right line; oblique motion.
4. n. Deviation from the right path or course of conduct: as, a declination from duty.
5. n. Aversion; disinclination.
6. n. The act of declining, refusing, or shunning; refusal: as, a declination of an office.
7. n. In astronomy, the distance of a heavenly body from the celestial equator, measured on a great circle passing through the pole and also through the body. It is equal to the complement of the polar distance of the body, and is said to be north or south according as the body is north or south of the equator. Great circles passing through the poles, and cutting the equator at right angles, are called circles of declination. Small circles parallel to the celestial equator are termed parallels of declination.
8. n. The angle between the magnetic meridian and the geographical meridian of a place.
9. n. In dialing, the arc of the horizon contained between the vertical plane and the prime vertical circle, if reckoned from east or west, or between the meridian and the plane, if reckoned from north or south.
10. n. In grammar, declension; the inflection of a noun through its various terminations.

Wiktionary

1. n. At a given point, the angle between magnetic north and true north.
2. n. At a given point, the angle between the line connecting this point with the geographical center of the earth and the equatorial plane.
3. n. A refusal.
4. n. archaic Declension.
5. n. archaic Deviation.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act or state of bending downward; inclination.
2. n. The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline.
3. n. The act of deviating or turning aside; oblique motion; obliquity; withdrawal.
4. n. The act or state of declining or refusing; withdrawal; refusal; averseness.
5. n. (Astron.) The angular distance of any object from the celestial equator, either northward or southward.
6. n. (Dialing) The arc of the horizon, contained between the vertical plane and the prime vertical circle, if reckoned from the east or west, or between the meridian and the plane, reckoned from the north or south.
7. n. (Gram.) The act of inflecting a word; declension. See Decline, v. t., 4.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a polite refusal of an invitation
2. n. a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state
3. n. (astronomy) the angular distance of a celestial body north or to the south of the celestial equator; expressed in degrees; used with right ascension to specify positions on the celestial sphere
4. n. a downward slope or bend