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''decant'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''decant'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260220114507-00-⌔

decant - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Verb

decant (third-person singular simple present decants, present participle decanting, simple past and past participle decanted)

  • (transitive) To pour off (a liquid) gently, so as not to disturb the sediment.
    • ✤ After washing, the insoluble lime soap is decomposed with hot dilute sulphuric acid. The melted fatty acids thus rise as an oil to the surface, when they are decanted.1
  • (transitive) To pour from its original vessel into one intended for a different use or appearance.
    • ✤ to decant wine
  • (archaic, intransitive) To flow.
    • ✤ Swincombe, formerly Swan-combe, runs to the north of the ridge, and has the sources of its river in the Fox Tor mires and near Childe’s Tomb. It runs north-east, and then abruptly passes north to decant into the West Dart.2
  • (science fiction) To remove (a clone or other artificially-gestated baby) from its chamber, vat, or artificial womb.
    • ✤ “We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future …” He was going to say “future World controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead.3
  • To rehouse people while their buildings are being refurbished or rebuilt.

Noun

decant (plural decants)

  • A portion of perfume unofficially sold in a smaller bottle.
    • ✤ In addition to decants, minis, and used bottles of vintage, perfume nips are a fun way to try out vintage, and they seem to be all over the Internet.4

Etymology

From French décanter, from Medieval Latin dēcanthāre, from dē- +‎ canthus (“beak of a cup or jug”).5

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dəˈkænt/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ænt
  • Hyphenation: de‧cant

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1908, Michael Faraday, The Chemical History of a Candle: ↩

  2. 1900, Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Dartmoor: ↩

  3. 1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World: ↩

  4. 2013, Barbara Herman, Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume, page 261: ↩

  5. “decant”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. ↩

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Secondary

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