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*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.
Hear it pronounced