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Originally Posted by floatingslowly
right. and as soon as I break out Ye Olde Tyme Machine and go back several centuries, I'll get back to you on it.
I hope this helps:
dec·i·mate
1.to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague. See also: "The other Olympiads were DECIMATED by the Chinese".
2.to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
3. Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from.
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Y'know, I've noticed that American dictionaries have different definitions to the good ole' OED. My copy of the OED uses decimate in its entry on catachresis [hence my preceding comment], but apparently Websters (and whichever other dictionary dictionary.com uses) takes a slightly more liberal approach. Curious, no?