decimation

noun5

1. •
   The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.

   • By decimation and a tythed death; / If thy Reuenges hunger for that Food, / Which Nature loathes, take thou the destin'd tenth, […] — 1605
2. •
   The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.

   • And the vvhole Army had cause to enquire into their own Rebellions, vvhen they savv the Lord of Hosts, vvith a dreadful Decimation, taking off so many of our Brethren by the vvorst of Executioners. — 1702
3. •
   The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
4. •
   A digital signal-processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal; downsampling
5. •
   A tithe or the act of tithing.