Philip is basically correct, but in modern English usage "decimate" has
come to be accepted as meaning "to destroy a great number or proportion of".
The earlier meanings "to select by lot and kill every tenth man" and "to
take a tenth of or from" have become pretty much secondary meanings.
John K. Layton
|
Admin
The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering
takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely
a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way.
If you wish to get material removed from the archive or
have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email
.
If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail
Andrew Taylor at this address:
andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU
|