dē-cresco — Lewis & Short
dē-cresco, crēvi, crētum, 3, v. n.
I Orig., to grow less, grow shorter, decrease, wane (as the moon, bodies of water, the length of the day, etc.): ostreae cum luna pariter crescunt pariterque decrescunt, * Cic. Div. 2, 14, 33:
crescunt loca decrescentibus undis,Ov. M. 1, 345; cf.:
aequora,id. ib. 2, 292; and: decrescentia flumina, * Hor. Od. 4, 7, 3:
die decrescente (coupled with quo rursus crescente),Plin. 2, 59, 60, § 151:
ubi febris fuit atque decrevit,Cels. 3, 6; cf.:
morbus,id. ib. 20 al.: nocte dieque decretum et auctum, Laev. ap. Prisc. p. 869 P.;
of the waters of the flood,Vulg. Gen. 8, 5.—Hence,
II In gen., to decrease, become less, diminish:
uncus aratri Ferreus occulte decrescit in arvis,i. e. wears away, Lucr. 1, 315; id. 5, 536; Quint. 5, 12, 14; 9, 4, 23:
admiratio decrescit,id. 1, 3, 5:
metus matrum,Sil. 7, 82 et saep.:
ut corpora quamlibet ardua et excelsa, procerioribus admota decrescant,i. e. seem smaller, Plin. Pan. 61, 2:
decrescente reditu (agelli) etiam pretium minuit,Plin. Ep. 6, 3, 1.—
b Poet., of the gradual disappearance of places as one removes farther from them, Stat. Ach. 2, 308; Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1, 189.—*
B Pregn., to pass away by diminution; to vanish, disappear:
cornua decrescunt, etc.,Ov. M. 1, 740.