in Architecture, a contraction of the upper part of a column, by which its diameter is made less than that of the lower part.*

in Music, is the abating something of the full value or quantity of any note.

DIMINITIVE, in Grammar, a word formed from some other, to soften or diminish the force of it, or to signify a thing is little in its kind. Thus, cellule is a diminutive of cell, globule of globe, hillock of hill.