Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A tenth part; a tithe or tax of one tenth.
  • noun In music: An interval of ten diatonic degrees, being an octave and a third.
  • noun An organ-stop whose pipes sound a tenth above the keys struck.
  • noun A Spanish money: the tenth of a real vellon, or about 5 cents in United States money.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • African-Peruvians also took to a poetic style known as decima, a form which was exemplified in the work of Afro-Peruvian poet Nicomedes Santa Cruz.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2010

  • For Henry potentia absoluta always indicates the possibility of acting in a disorderly way, which the pope, who is capable of sinning, possesses, but God does not (see Tractatus super facto praelatorum et fratrum, ratio decima pro fratribus, ed. Hödl/Haverals, pp. 253-259; cf. Porro 2003).

    Hitler's Angel (A Meta Christmas Carol) 2009

  • Anno Domini 1331. decima quarta die mensis Ianuarij obijt in

    The Journal of Friar Odoric 2004

  • Ite, leues elegi, doctas ad consulis aures, uerbaque honorato ferte legenda uiro. longa uia est, nec uos pedibus proceditis aequis, tectaque brumali sub niue terra latet. cum gelidam Thracen et opertum nubibus Haemon 5 et maris Ionii transieritis aquas, luce minus decima dominam uenietis in urbem, ut festinatum non faciatis iter. protinus inde domus uobis Pompeia petetur; non est Augusto iunctior ulla foro.

    The Last Poems of Ovid 43 BC-18? Ovid

  • He was the inventor of the measure known at first as the "espinela" and later as the "decima", because it hasten syllables.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913

  • It is further to be borne in mind that, four months earlier, the Pope had levied a similar decima, or tax, upon the entire College of Cardinals and every official in the service of the

    The Life of Cesare Borgia Rafael Sabatini 1912

  • It is further to be borne in mind that, four months earlier, the Pope had levied a similar decima, or tax, upon the entire College of Cardinals and every official in the service of the Holy See, for the purposes of the expedition against the Muslim, who was in arms against Christianity.

    The Life of Cesare Borgia Sabatini, Rafael, 1875-1950 1912

  • The _decima_ he now started to sing related to his early experiences, and swaying his body from side to side and bending forward until his beard was all over his knees he began in his raucous voice:

    Far Away and Long Ago 1881

  • The first occasion was at a big gathering of gauchos when Barboza was asked and graciously consented to sing a _decima_ -- a song or ballad consisting of four ten-line stanzas.

    Far Away and Long Ago 1881

  • And so it went on to the end -- boastful stanza and insulting remarks from Marcos; and by the time the _decima_ ended a dozen or twenty men had forced themselves in between the two so that there could be no fight on this occasion.

    Far Away and Long Ago 1881

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