septimation

Noun

septimation (countable and uncountable, plural septimations)

1. (rare) The loss, seizure, destruction, or killing of one seventh (of something or of a group).
   • To Wilberforce ‘the Sabbath was a delight’ […] O how often, even among those who most punctiliously observe it, does it seem […] an unwelcome exaction, a sort of septimation of time, as grievous as church decimations of property.1844, J.A.T., “Observations on the Genius of the Christian Sabbath, as Illustrated in the Life of Wilberforce”, in The Oberlin Evangelist, volume VI, number 5, page 40
   • We had gone into the enemy’s ground with seven hundred warriors — a little over one hundred of whom were missing when we left it — as, at that time, we could hardly muster six hundred. This septimation of our men was accompanied by a proportionate riddance of such encumbrances of the expedition as...1853, William Jackman, “chapter XVII”, in I. Chamberlayne, editor, The Australian Captive, page 206