declination

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A sloping or bending downward.
• noun A falling off, especially from prosperity or vigor; a decline.
• noun A deviation, as from a specific direction or standard.
• noun A refusal to accept.
• noun Astronomy The angular distance to a point on a celestial object, measured north (in positive degrees) or south (in negative degrees) from the celestial equator.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A bending or sloping downward; a sloping or bending from a higher to a lower level; subsidence: as, the declination of the shore.
• noun A falling to a lower or inferior condition; deterioration; decline: as, declination in or of vigor, virtue, morals, etc.
• noun Deviation from a right line; oblique motion.
• noun Deviation from the right path or course of conduct: as, a declination from duty.
• noun Aversion; disinclination.
• noun The act of declining, refusing, or shunning; refusal: as, a declination of an office.
• noun 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.
• noun The angle between the magnetic meridian and the geographical meridian of a place.
• noun 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.
• noun In grammar, declension; the inflection of a noun through its various terminations.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act or state of bending downward; inclination.
• noun The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline.
• noun The act of deviating or turning aside; oblique motion; obliquity; withdrawal.
• noun The act or state of declining or refusing; withdrawal; refusal; averseness.
• noun (Astron.) The angular distance of any object from the celestial equator, either northward or southward.
• noun (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.
• noun (Gram.) The act of inflecting a word; declension. See Decline, v. t., 4.
• noun the angle made by a descending line, or plane, with a horizontal plane.
• noun a circle parallel to the celestial equator.
• noun (Physics) a compass arranged for finding the declination of the magnetic needle.
• noun the horizontal angle which the magnetic needle makes with the true north-and-south line.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun At a given point, the angle between magnetic north and true north.
• noun At a given point, the angle between the line connecting this point with the geographical center of the earth and the equatorial plane.
• noun A refusal.
• noun archaic Declension.
• noun archaic Deviation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a polite refusal of an invitation
• noun a condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state
• noun (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
• noun a downward slope or bend