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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The rain descended, and the floods came. Matt. vii. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To enter mentally; to retire. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ He ] with holiest meditations fed,
Into himself descended. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

But never tears his cheek descended. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. descendant, p. pr. of descendre. Cf. Descendent. ] Descendent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who descends, as offspring, however remotely; -- correlative to ancestor or ascendant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our first parents and their descendants. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

The descendant of so many kings and emperors. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. all of the offspring of a given progenitor.
Syn. -- posterity. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. descendens, -entis, p. pr. of descendre. Cf. Descendant. ] Descending; falling; proceeding from an ancestor or source. [ 1913 Webster ]

More than mortal grace
Speaks thee descendent of ethereal race. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who descends. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being descendible; capability of being transmitted from ancestors; as, the descendibility of an estate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Admitting descent; capable of being descended. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That may descend from an ancestor to an heir. “A descendant estate.” Sir W. Jones. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

Descending constellations or
Descending signs (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south. --
Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. --
Descending series (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity. [ 1913 Webster ]