Decoration \Dec`o*ra"tion\, n. [LL. decoratio: cf. F. d['e]coration.]

1. The act of adorning, embellishing, or honoring; ornamentation.

2. That which adorns, enriches, or beautifies; something added by way of embellishment; ornament.

The hall was celebrated for . . . the richness of its decoration. --Motley.

3. Specifically, any mark of honor to be worn upon the person, as a medal, cross, or ribbon of an order of knighthood, bestowed for services in war, great achievements in literature, art, etc.

Decoration Day, a day, May 30, appointed for decorating with flowers the graves of the Union soldiers and sailors, who fell in the Civil War in the United States; Memorial Day. [U.S.]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)