Main Entry: de·scent Pronunciation: di-'sent Function: noun 1: the act or process of descending from a higher to a lower location
<descent of the testes into the scrotum> 2 a: derivation from an ancestor b: the fact or process of originating by generation from an ancestral
stock (as a species or genus) 3: a former method of distillation in which the material was heated in a vessel having its outlet underneath so that the vapors produced were forced
to descend
As*cent"\ [Formed like descent, as if from a F. ascente, fr. a verb ascendre, fr. L. ascendere. See Ascend, Descent.]1. The act of rising; motion upward; rise; a mounting upward; as, he made a tedious ascent; the ascent of vapors from the earth. To him with swift ascent he up returned. --Milton. 2. The way or means by which one ascends. 3. An eminence, hill, or high place. --Addison. 4. The degree of elevation of an object, or the angle it makes with a horizontal line; inclination; rising grade; as, a road has an ascent of five degrees.
De*scen"sion\, n. [OF. descension, L. descensio. See Descent.] The act of going downward; descent; falling or sinking; declension; degradation. Oblique descension (Astron.), the degree or arc of the equator which descends, with a celestial object, below the horizon of an oblique sphere. Right descension, the degree or arc of the equator which descends below the horizon of a right sphere at the same time with the object. [Obs.]
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.
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