DECOY, a contrivance for the capture or enticing of duck and other wild fowl within range of a gun, hence any trap or enticement into a place or situation of danger. Decoys are usually made on the following plan: long tunnels leading from the sea, channel or estuary into a pool or pond are covered with an arched net, which gradually narrows in width; the ducks are enticed into this by a tame trained bird, also known as a "decoy" or "decoy-duck." In America the "decoy" is an artificial bird, placed in the water as if it were feeding, which attracts the wild fowl within range of the concealed sportsman. The word "decoy" has, etymologically, a complicated history. It appears in English first in the 17th century in these senses as "coy" and "coy-duck," from the Dutch _kooi_, a word which is ultimately connected with Latin _cavea_, hollow place, "cage."[1] The _de_-, with which the word begins, is either a corruption of "duck-coy," the Dutch article _de_, or a corruption of the Dutch _eende-kooi_, _eende_, duck. The _New English Dictionary_ points out that the word "decoy" is found in the particular sense of a sharper or swindler as a slang term slightly earlier than "coy" or "decoy" in the ordinary sense, and, as the name of a game of cards, as early as 1550, apparently with no connexion in meaning. It is suggested that "coy" may have been adapted to this word.
[1] Distinguish "coy," affectedly shy or modest, from O. Fr. _coi_, Lat. _quietus_, quiet.
DECREE (from the past participle, _decretus_, of Lat. _decernere_), in earlier form _Decreet_, an authoritative decision having the force of law; the judgment of a court of justice. In Roman law, a decree (_decretum_) was the decision of the emperor, as the supreme judicial officer, settling a case which had been referred to him. In ecclesiastical law the term was given to a decision of an ecclesiastical council settling a doubtful point of doctrine or discipline (cf. also DECRETALS). In English law decree was more particularly the judgment of a court of equity, but since the Judicature Acts the expression "judgment" (q.v.) is employed in reference to the decisions of all the divisions of the supreme court. A "decree _nisi_" is the conditional order for a dissolution of marriage made by the divorce court, and it is made "absolute" after six months (which period may, however, be shortened) in the absence of sufficient cause shown to the contrary. (See DIVORCE.) _Decreet arbitral_ is a Scottish phrase for the award of an arbitrator.