- Descend
- Descend De*scend", v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Descended}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Descending}.] [F. descendre, L. descendere,
descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See {Scan}.]
1. To pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards;
to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing,
walking, etc.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward; --
the opposite of ascend.
[1913 Webster]
The rain descended, and the floods came. --Matt. vii. 25. [1913 Webster]
We will here descend to matters of later date. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic] [1913 Webster]
[He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. [1913 Webster]
And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
4. To come down to a lower, less fortunate, humbler, less virtuous, or worse, state or station; to lower or abase one's self; as, he descended from his high estate. [1913 Webster]
5. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered. [1913 Webster]
6. To come down, as from a source, original, or stock; to be derived; to proceed by generation or by transmission; to fall or pass by inheritance; as, the beggar may descend from a prince; a crown descends to the heir. [1913 Webster]
7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward. [1913 Webster]
8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
