Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt.
--Barrow.
2. To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to
degrade; to abase; to weaken.
This doth nothing diminish their opinion. --Robynson
(More's
Utopia).
I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule
over the nations. --Ezek. xxix.
15.
O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their
diminished heads. --Milton.
3. (Mus.) To make smaller by a half step; to make (an
interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.
Neither shall ye diminish aught from it. --Deut. iv.
2.
{Diminished column}, one whose upper diameter is less than
the lower.
{Diminished}, or {Diminishing}, {scale}, a scale of gradation
used in finding the different points for drawing the
spiral curve of the volute. --Gwilt.
{Diminishing rule} (Arch.), a board cut with a concave edge,
for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft.
{Diminishing stile} (Arch.), a stile which is narrower in one
part than in another, as in many glazed doors.
Syn: To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail;
impair; degrade. See {Decrease}.