往旁邊偏：婉拒
同一個彎的動作，方向從往下換成往旁邊：別人遞過來的東西，你把它偏開而不是擋回去，所以聽起來客氣。
politely refuse · verb · B2
To politely say no to an invitation, offer, or request.
婉拒
核心畫面
Picture a line bending away from where it was going — sometimes bending downward (the graph sinks, the health , the years run out), sometimes bending aside (the invitation is turned away rather than refused flat). One movement, two directions, and both are in this word.
可以想成：一條線從原本的走向「彎開」了。有時候是往下彎——曲線走低、身體變差、日子走向盡頭；有時候是往旁邊彎——別人…更多收起
可以想成：一條線從原本的走向「彎開」了。有時候是往下彎——曲線走低、身體變差、日子走向盡頭；有時候是往旁邊彎——別人遞過來的邀請，你不是硬擋回去，而是輕輕把它偏開。同一個動作、兩個方向，這個字兩邊都裝著。也因為這樣，decline 講「拒絕」的時候語氣是禮貌的，不像 refuse 那樣正面頂回去。From the word’s history
From Latin declinare 'to lower; avoid, deviate; bend from, inflect', from de- 'from' + clinare 'to bend'. The 'refuse politely' sense appears in the 1630s from the idea of turning aside; the grammatical sense (a noun 'declining' through its cases) has been in use since the late 14th century. The de- was later felt as 'downward', which is why the sinking sense feels so central today.
來自拉丁文 declinare「放低、避開、偏離、使字形變化」，由 de-「從…離開」加 clinare「彎」組成。「婉拒」這個意思在 1630 年代出現，正是從「把它偏到一邊」來的；文法上的「變格」則從十四世紀末就在用，指一個字沿著格位一路「彎」出不同形狀。後來 de- 被理解成「往下」，所以今天最有感的反而是下降那一支。這條線有出處，不是為了好記編的。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'decline'
From the picture
文法上的變格
還是同一個彎：一個名詞照它在句中的角色，從基本形「彎」出不同的形狀。這是這個字最早的專業用法之一。
change grammatical form · verb · B2
When a noun, pronoun, or adjective declines, its form changes depending on how it is used in a sentence.
（字形）變格
Also in this word
decrease gradually · verb · B2
To become less in amount, number, or importance.
減少／下降
worsen in quality · verb · B2
To slowly get worse in quality or condition.
變差／衰退
gradual drop · noun · B2
A gradual drop in the amount, quality, or importance of something.
下降／衰退
declining years (old age) · verb · B2
Someone's declining years are the last years of their life, when they are growing old.
晚年
原始詞典資料15 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
declinenoun/dɪˈklaɪn/
- 1
Downward movement, fall.
- The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.
- 2
A sloping downward, e.g. of a hill or road.
- After taking a right from that turn a decline will come into view.
- 3
A deterioration of condition; a weakening or worsening.
- He has experienced a sudden decline in his health.
- Educational standards are on the decline.
- 4
A reduction or diminution of activity, prevalence or quantity.
- Population decline is a major concern.
- Town-centre retailers have seen a decline in footfall.
- 5
The act of declining or refusing something.
- The issuing bank only checks the consumer's credit card number for authorization. […] Soft declines are those declines in which the bank requires further verification.
declineverb/dɪˈklaɪn/
- 1
To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
- The dollar has declined rapidly since 2001.
- Only empirical observation, and not deduction from the nature of the profit rate, can tell us whether it does tend permanently to decline; and such observation is not found to confirm Marx's theory.
- 2
To become weaker or worse.
- My health declined in winter.
- After her sother died, Connie began to decline noticeably.
- 3
To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall.
- in melancholy site, with head declined
- And now faire Phoebus gan decline in hast / His weary wagon to the Westerne vale.
- 4
To cause to decrease or diminish.
- You have declin'd his means.
- He knoweth his error, but will not seek to decline it.
- 5
To turn or bend aside; to deviate; to stray; to withdraw.
- a line that declines from straightness
- conduct that declines from sound morals
- 6
To choose not to do something; refuse, forbear, refrain.
- Could I decline this dreadful hour?
- “[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
- 7
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsTo inflect for case, number, gender, and the like.
- 8
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsTo recite all the different declined forms of (a word): to recite its declension.
- after the first declining of a noun and a verb
另外 2 個記錄的用法
- 9
To run through from first to last; to recite in order as though declining a noun.
- Decline all this, and see what now thou art. For happy wife, a most distressed widow; For joyful mother, one that wails the name; For one being sued to, one that humbly sues; For queen , a very caitiff crown'd with care[…]
- 10
American-footballball-gamesfootballTo reject a penalty against the opposing team, usually because the result of accepting it would benefit the non-penalized team less than the preceding play.
- The team chose to decline the fifteen-yard penalty because their receiver had caught the ball for a thirty-yard gain.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。