De-sçént', n.

n. [Fr. descente, from descendere, as vente from vendre; Sp. descendida. See DESCEND.]

1. The act of descending or coming down; change of place from higher to lower.
2. Incursion; sudden attack;—often followed by upon; 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, and the like, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, from a higher to a lower tone, &c.
4. Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage, birth, extraction. Dryden.
5. Transmission by succession or inheritance.
6. Inclination downward; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; as, a steep descent.
7. That which is derived or descended; descendants; issue.

If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must be born to certain woe. Milton. 8. A step in the process of derivation; a generation. No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. Hooker. 9. Lowest place; lower extremity; bottom. [Obs.] From the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust beneath thy feet. Shak. 10. (Mus.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone. Syn.—Declivity; slope; degradation; extraction; lineage; assault; invasion; attack.