decuman

American  

[dek-yoo-muhn] / ˈdɛk yʊ mən /

adjective

1. large or immense, as a wave.

2. (in ancient Rome) of or relating to the tenth cohort of a legion.

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noun

1. Also called decuman gate.  (in ancient Rome) the main gate of a military camp, facing away from the enemy and near which the tenth cohort of the legion was usually stationed.

Etymology

Origin of decuman

1650–60; < Latin decumānus, decimānus of the tenth, large, equivalent to decim ( us ) tenth ( see decimate) + -ānus -an

Example Sentences

Thy decuman is broken on the shore: A peer to him shall lave thee never more!

From John Patrick, Third Marquess of Bute, K.T. A Memoir by Blair, David Hunter

The critics also find fault with his coining such words as "undisprivacied," and with his writing such lines as the famous one—from The Cathedral, 1870— "Spume-sliding down the baffled decuman."

From Initial Studies in American Letters by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

The critics also find fault with his coining such words as "undisprivacied" and with his writing such lines as the famous one—from the Cathedral, 1870— "Spume-sliding down the baffled decuman."

From Brief History of English and American Literature by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)