deco

a. Capable of being boiled or digested. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. décoction, L. decoctio. ] 1. The act or process of boiling anything in a watery fluid to extract its virtues. [ 1913 Webster ]

In decoction . . . it either purgeth at the top or settleth at the bottom. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An extract got from a body by boiling it in water. [ 1913 Webster ]

If the plant be boiled in water, the strained liquor is called the decoction of the plant. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where there is merely steeping. Latham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A decoction. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. to convert from a coded form into the original form; -- of communications. Inverse of encode.
Syn. -- decrypt, decipher[ WE1 ]. [ PJC ]

n. [ Pref. de- + coherer. ] (Elec.) A device for restoring a coherer to its normal condition after it has been affected by an electric wave, a process usually accomplished by some method of tapping or shaking, or by rotation of the coherer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Decollated; p. pr. & vb. n. Decollating. ] [ L. decollatus, p. p. of decollare to behead; de- + collum neck. ] To sever from the neck; to behead; to decapitate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The decollated head of St. John the Baptist. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Decapitated; worn or cast off in the process of growth, as the apex of certain univalve shells. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. decollatio: cf. F. décollation. ] 1. The act of beheading or state of one beheaded; -- especially used of the execution of St. John the Baptist. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A painting representing the beheading of a saint or martyr, esp. of St. John the Baptist. [ 1913 Webster ]