decimation

Meanings

1. The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.
2. The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.
3. A tithe or the act of tithing.
4. The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
5. A digital signal-processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal; downsampling

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin decimātiō, a punishment where every 10th man in a unit would be stoned to death by the men who were spared. Used by the Romans to keep order in their military. Compare septimation and vicesimation.

Translations