Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Descend
De-scend′
,Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Descended
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Descending
.] 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
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 estate5.
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′
,Verb.
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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Descend
DESCEND
,Verb.
I.
1.
To move or pass from a higher to a lower place; to move, come or go downwards; to fall; to sink; to run or flow down; applicable to any kind of motion or of body. We descend on the feet, on wheels, or by falling. A torrent descends from a mountain.The rains descended, and the floods came. Matt. 7.
2.
To go down, or to enter.He shall descend into battle and perish. Sam. 26.
3.
To come suddenly; to fall violently.And on the suitors let thy wrath descend.
4.
To go in; to enter.He, with honest meditations fed, into himself descended.
5.
To rush; to invade, as an enemy.The Grecian fleet descending on the town.
6.
To proceed from a source or original; to be derived. The beggar may descend from a prince, and the prince, from a beggar.7.
To proceed, as from father to son; to pass from a preceding possessor, in the order of lineage, or according to the laws of succession or inheritance. Thus, an inheritance descends to the son or next of kin; a crown descends to the heir.8.
To pass from general to particular considerations; as, having explained the general subject, we will descend to particulars.9.
To come down from an elevated or honorable station; in a figurative sense. Flavius is an honorable man; he cannot descend to acts of meanness.10.
In music, to fall in sound; to pass from any note to another less acute or shrill, or from sharp to flat.DESCEND
,Verb.
T.