To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
To slope, extend, or incline downward: "A rough path descended like a steep stair into the plain"(J.R.R. Tolkien).
To come from an ancestor or ancestry: He was descended from a pioneer family.
To come down from a source; derive: a tradition descending from colonial days.
To pass by inheritance: The house has descended through four generations.
To lower oneself; stoop: "She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered"(James Bryce).
To proceed or progress downward, as in rank, pitch, or scale: titles listed in descending order of importance; notes that descended to the lower register.
To arrive or attack in a sudden or an overwhelming manner: summer tourists descending on the seashore village.
v.
tr.
To move from a higher to a lower part of; go down.
To get down from: "People descended the minibus that shuttled guests to the nearby . . . beach"(Howard Kaplan).
To extend or proceed downward along: a road that descended the mountain in sharp curves.
[Middle English descenden, from Old French descendre, from Latin dēscendere : dē-, de- + scandere, to climb; see skand- in Indo-European roots.]
c.1300, from O.Fr. descendre, from L. descendere, from de- "down" + scandere "to climb," from PIE base *skand- "jump." Sense of "originate from" is c.1375. Descent is attested from c.1330; descendant "offspring" is from 1600.
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way; "The temperature is going down"; "The barometer is falling"; "The curtain fell on the diva"; "Her hand went up and then fell again" [ant: arise, ascend]
2.
come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example; "She was descended from an old Italian noble family"; "he comes from humble origins" [syn: derive]
3.
do something that one considers to be below one's dignity [syn: condescend]
4.
come as if by falling; "Night fell"; "Silence fell" [syn: fall]
Main Entry: de·scend Pronunciation: di-'send Function: intransitive verb : to pass from a higher place or level to a lower one <normally the
testicle descends into the scrotum between the seventh and ninth month in utero —Therapeutic Notes>
Main Entry: de·scend Pronunciation: di-'send Function: intransitive verb : to pass by inheritance
—de·scen·di·bil·i·ty/-"sen-d&-'bi-l&-tE/noun —de·scend·ible/-'sen-d&-b&l/adjective
As*cend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ascended; p. pr. & vb. n. Ascending.] [L. ascendere; ad + scandere to climb, mount. See Scan.]1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to descend. Higher yet that star ascends. --Bowring. I ascend unto my father and your father. --John xx. 17. Note: Formerly used with up. The smoke of it ascended up to heaven. --Addison. 2. To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor. Syn: To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
Con`de*scend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Condescended; p. pr. & vb. n. Condescending.] [F. condescendre, LL. condescendere, fr. L. con- + descendere. See Descend.]1. To stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior. "Condescend to men of low estate." --Rom. xii. 16. Can they think me so broken, so debased With corporal servitude, that my mind ever Will condescend to such absurd commands? --Milton. Spain's mighty monarch, In gracious clemency, does condescend, On these conditions, to become your friend. --Dryden. Note: Often used ironically, implying an assumption of superiority. Those who thought they were honoring me by condescending to address a few words to me. --F. W. Robinson. 2. To consent. [Obs.] All parties willingly condescended heruento. --R. Carew. Syn: To yield; stoop; descend; deign; vouchsafe.
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. The rain descended, and the floods came. --Matt. vii. 25. We will here descend to matters of later date. --Fuller. 2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic] [He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. --Milton. 3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. --Pope. 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. 5. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered. 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. 7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward. 8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
De*scend"\, v. t. To go down upon or along; to pass from a higher to a lower part of; as, they descended the river in boats; to descend a ladder. But never tears his cheek descended. --Byron.
De*scent"\, n. [F. descente, fr. descendre; like vente, from vendre. See Descend.]1. The act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower. 2. Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy. The United Provinces . . . ordered public prayer to God, when they feared that the French and English fleets would make a descent upon their coasts. --Jortin. 3. Progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station, virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, etc. 2. Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction. --Dryden. 5. (Law) Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity. --Abbott. 6. Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent. 7. That which is descended; descendants; issue. If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must be born to certain woe. --Milton. 8. A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation. No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. --Hooker. 9. Lowest place; extreme downward place. [R.] And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust below thy foot. --Shak. 10. (Mus.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone. Syn: Declivity; slope; degradation; extraction; lineage; assault; invasion; attack.
Scan\ (sk[a^]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scanned (sk[a^]nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Scanning.] [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]1. To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [Obs.] Nor stayed till she the highest stage had scand. --Spenser. 2. Specifically (Pros.), to go through with, as a verse, marking and distinguishing the feet of which it is composed; to show, in reading, the metrical structure of; to recite metrically. 3. To go over and examine point by point; to examine with care; to look closely at or into; to scrutinize. The actions of men in high stations are all conspicuous, and liable to be scanned and sifted. --Atterbury.
![[P]](http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium_mh.gif){kind=small}
Audio Help [di-send] Pronunciation Key