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 ] | 
