To waxe lesse: to decrease. Decrescere & Accrescere, contraria. Plaut. Crescere & Decrescere, contraria. Cic. Cornua decrescunt. Ouid. The coruers of the moone waxe lesse: o hornes waxe lesse and shorter. Decrescit febris. Cels. The ague weareth away. Metus decrescit. Sil. Feare waxeth lesse. Effosso marmore decrescunt montes. Ouid. Morbus decrescit. Cels. Weareth away. Vestes decrescunt pueris. Statius. Childrens coates waxe too shorte for them: o they out growe their garments. Decrescente die. Plin. While the day waxeth shorter. Flumina decrescentia. Hor. Riuers falling after a floude. Vndæ decrescentes. Ouid.

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.