Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- In Rom. milit. antiq., an epithet applied to a gate of the Roman camp near which the tenth cohorts of the legions were encamped. The decuman gate was the principal entrance to the camp, and was that furthest from the enemy.
- Large; immense: used especially of waves.
- noun In astrology, one of the ten divisions of the ecliptic.
- noun A large wave.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Large; chief; -- applied to an extraordinary billow, supposed by some to be every tenth in order. [R.] Also used substantively.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete
large ;chief ; applied to an extraordinarybillow , supposed by some to be every tenth in order. - noun obsolete An extraordinarily large
billow .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In the camp, meanwhile, the consul Furius, after remaining inactive during the first days of the siege, made a sortie from the "decuman" gate and surprised the enemy, and though he could have pursued him, he refrained from doing so, fearing lest the camp might be attacked from the other side.
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In "The Year is Gone" there is great tenderness of sentiment and grace of expression; "Love Disposed of" is a pretty fancy embodied with true lyric feeling; but the poem which over crests all the others like a decuman wave is "The Brave Old Ship, the Orient."
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The Palazzo Madama stands on the site of the old decuman gate, which became a castle in the Middle
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 15: Tournely-Zwirner 1840-1916 1913
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After disposing of the guard they entered the camp through the decuman gate and got possession of the quaestor's tent, the quaestor, L. Opimius Pansa, being killed.
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Pope Joan, the Wandering Jew, the decuman or tenth wave, the blackness of negroes, Friar Bacon's brazen head, etc.
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Joan, the Wandering Jew, the decuman or tenth wave, the blackness of negroes, Friar Bacon's brazen head, etc.
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The word was "decuman," which tends to get used in relation to waves, as in, "the belief that every 10th wave is greater than the others."
SI.com 2011
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