De-scĕnd' (-sĕnd')1, v. i.
[imp. & p. p. DESCENDED; p. pr. & vb. n. DESCENDING.] [Lat. descendere, from de and scandere, to climb, mount, ascend; Fr. descendre, Pr. descendre, deissendre, Sp. & Pg. descender, It. descendere, discedere.]
Sense 1. To pass from a higher to a lower place; to move in a downward direction; to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing, walking, &c.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward.
We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller.
Sense 2. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage-ground; to come suddenly and with violence.
And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Pope.
Sense 3. To come down to a less fortunate, humbler, less virtuous, or more degraded state or station; to lower or abase one's self; to condescend. “Descending to play with little children.” Evelyn.
Sense 4. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or more trivial; as, to descend to particulars.
Sense 5. To come down, as from a source, original, or stock; to be derived; to proceed by generation or by transmission; as, the beggar may descend from a prince; a crown descends to the heir.
Sense 6. (Astron.) To move toward the south, or to the southward.
Sense 7. (Mus.) To fall in tone; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.