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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