descend 
downward, as offspring in the line of genera- 
tion, or as property from owner to heir. 
From these our Henry lineally descends. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., HI. 3. 
Another was Cardinal Pool, of a Dignity not much in- 
ferior to Kings, and by his Mother descended from Kings. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 318. 
To heirs unknown descends th' unguarded store, 
Or wanders, heaven-directed, to the poor. 
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 149. 
4. To pass, as from general to particular state- 
ments: as, having explained the general sub- 
ject, we will descend to particulars. 
Omitting . . . introductions, I will descend to the de- 
scription of this thrise worthy citie [Venice]. 
Cori/at, Crudities, 1. 199. 
Historians rarely descend to those details from which 
alone the real state of a community can be collected. 
Macaulay, Machiavelli. 
5. To come down from a certain moral or so- 
cial standard ; lower or abase one's self morally 
or socially: as, to descend to acts of meanness; 
to descend to an inferior position; hence, to 
condescend; stoop. 
That your Grace would descend to command me in any 
thing that might conduce to your Contentment and Ser- 
vice. Houiell, Letters, I. iv. 14. 
His birth and bringing vp will not suffer him to descend 
to the meanes to get wealth. 
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Younger Brother. 
6. In astron., to move to the southward, or to- 
ward the south, as a star. 
II. trans. To move or pass downward upon 
or along; come or go down upon; pass from 
the top to the bottom of: as, to descend a hill; 
to descend an inclined plane. 
But never tears his cheek descended. 
Byron, Parisina, st. 20. 
descendable (de-sen'da-bl), a. [< OF. descen- 
dable, < descendre, descend: see descend and 
-able.] Same as descendible. 
descendant (de-sen'dant), a. and n. [< OF. 
descendant, P. descendant = Sp. descendente, de- 
scendiente = Pg. descendente = It. descendente, 
discendente = D. G. Dan. Sw. descendent, < L. 
descenden(t-)s, ppr. of descendere, descend : see 
descend, descendent. The adj., not common in 
either spelling, is usually spelled descendent, 
after the L. : but the noun is nearly always de- 
scendant. Cf. ascendant, ascendent, dependant, 
dependent, etc.] I. a. See descendent. 
ll. . 1. An individual proceeding from an 
ancestor in any degree; issue; offspring, near 
or remote. 
It happeneth sometimes that the grandchild, or other 
descendant, resembleth the ancestor more than the son. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 19. 
As we would have our descendants judge us, so ought 
we to judge our fathers. Macaulay, Sir J. Mackintosh. 
Are not improved steam engines or clocks the lineal de- 
scendants of some existing steam engine or clock? Is 
there ever a new creation in art or science any more than 
in nature? A. K. Wallace, Nat. Select., p. 295. 
Before a cocoa-nut tree has ripened its first cluster of 
nuts, the descendants of a wheat plant, supposing them 
all to survive and multiply, will have become numerous 
enough to occupy the whole surface of the earth. 
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 339. 
2. In astral., the descending or western hori- 
zon or cusp of the seventh house. =Syn. 1. See of- 
spring. 
descendent (de-seu'dent), a. and re. [The same 
as descendant, conformed in spelling to the orig. 
L. descenden(t-)s, ppr. of descendere, descend: 
see descend, descendant.] I. a. 1. Going or 
coming down; falling; sinking; descending. 
There is a regress of the sap in plants from above down- 
wards; and this descendent juice is that which principally 
nourishes both fruit and plant. Ray, Works of Creation. 
2. In )ier., flying downward and showing the 
back: said of a bird used as a bearing. 3. 
Proceeding or descending from 
an original, as an ancestor. 
More than mortal grace 
Speaks thee descendent of ethereal race. 
Pope. 
Descendent displayed, in her., flying 
downward with the wings displayed or 
opened widely. 
II. . See descendant. 
descendentalism (de-sen-den'- 
An Eagle Descen- 
aent. 
tal-izm), n. [< descendent + -al + -ism, after 
transcendentalism.] A disposition or tendency 
to depreciate or lower ; depreciation. 
With all this Desctndentalism, he continues a Transcen- 
dentalism no less superlative ; whereby if on the one hand 
he degrade man below most animals, except those jacketed 
Gouda cows, he on the other exalts him beyond the visible 
heavens, almost to an equality with the gods. 
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, i. 10. 
descent 
descensive (de-sen'siv), a. [< ML. "descensivus 
(adv. descensive), < L. descensus, pp. of descen- 
dere, descend : see descend. ] Descending : tend- 
ing downward ; having power to descend. 
descensoryt, ' [ME., = OF. descensoire, de- 
scensoir, < ML. "descensorium, prop. neut. of 
LL. descensorius, descending, < L. descensus, pp. 
of descendere, descend: see descend.'] A vessel 
used in old chemistry in -which distillation by 
descent was performed. Cliaucer. 
descent (de-sent'), n. [< ME. descent, < OF. de- 
scente, f., AF. also descent, m., F. descents, de- 
scent, < descendre, descend: see descend. Cf. 
ascent, ascend."] 1. The act of descending ; the 
act of passing from a higher to a lower place by 
any form of motion. 
The descent of the mountaine I found more wearysome 
. . . than the ascent Coryat, Crudities, I. 92. 
2. A downward slope or inclination; a de- 
clivity. 
I see no danger yet ; for the descent, methinks, is thus 
far green, even, and easy. 
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 231. 
Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down 
The dark descent, and up to reascend. 
Milton, P. L., iii. 20. 
3. A fall or decline from a higher to a lower 
state or station ; declension ; degradation. 
O foul descent ! that I, who erst contended 
With gods to sit the highest, am now constrain 'd 
Into a beast. Milton, P. L., ix. 163. 
4. A sudden or hostile coming down upon a 
person, thing, or place; an incursion; an inva- 
sion; a sudden attack. 
They feared that the French and English fleets would 
make a descent upon their coasts. 
Jortin, Remarks on Eccles. Hist. 
Ferdinand, who had already completed his preparations 
in Sicily, made a descent on the southern extremity of Ca- 
labria. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 2. 
In 1778 he [Paul Jones] made a descent upon Whitehaven, 
in Scotland, set fire to the shipping, [and] took two forts. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv. 
5. In law, the passing of real property to the 
heir or heirs of one who dies without disposing 
of it by will; transmission by succession or 
inheritance ; the hereditary devolution of real 
property either to a single heir at law (com- 
mon in England) or to the nearest relatives 
in the same degree, whether in a descending, 
ascending, or collateral line. See heir. 
Jefferson . . . had taken care for the equal descent of 
real estate, as well as other property, to children of both 
sexes. Bancroft, Hist. Const., I. 113. 
6. Genealogical extraction from an original or 
progenitor ; lineage ; pedigree ; specifically, in 
biol., evolution; derivation: said of species, 
etc., as well as of individuals. 
Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, 
From yon blue heavens above us bent 
The gardener Adam and his wife 
Smile at the claims of long descent. 
Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere. 
The researches of Professor Marsh into the paleontology 
of the horse have established beyond question the descent 
of the genus equus from a five-toed mammal not larger 
than a pig, and somewhat resembling a tapir. 
J. Fiske, Evolutionist, p. 366. 
7f. A generation ; a single degree in the scale 
of genealogy, traced from the common ancestor. 
No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam 
himself. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. 
From son to son, some four or five descents. 
Shak., All's Well, iii. 7. 
8f. Offspring ; issue ; descendants collectively. 
If care of our descent perplex us most, 
Which must be born to certain woe. 
Milton, P. L., X. 979. 
9f. A rank ; a step or degree. 
Infinite descents 
Beneath what other creatures are to thee. 
Milton, P. L., viii. 410. 
There were about forty-three degrees of seats, and eleven 
descents down from the top [of the theater], which are two 
feet wide, and the uppermost are about fifty-five feet 
apart ; those descents are made by dividing eat-h seat into 
two steps. Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 73. 
10f. The lowest place. 
From the extremest upward of thy head, 
To the descent and dust beneath thy feet. 
Shak., Lear, v. 3. 
11. pi. In fort., a hole, vault, or hollow place 
made by undermining the ground. 12. In 
music, a passing from a higher to a lower pitch, 
descensional (de-sen'shon-al), a. [< descen- 13. In logic, an inference from a proposition 
sion + -al.] Of or pertaining to descension or containing a higher term to a proposition con- 
taining a lower term. This is also called arguitire 
descent, in opposition to divisive descent, which is a prop- 
osition dividing a genus into its species. Angle Of de- 
1556 
descendentalist (de-sen-den'tal-ist), n. [< de- 
scendent + -al + -ist.] One given to descenden- 
talism; a depreciator: as, "a respectable de- 
scendentalist. Harper's Mag., LXV. 579. 
descender (de-sen'der), M. 1. One who de- 
scends. 2. That which descends, as a de- 
scending letter (which see, under descending). 
descendibility (de-sen-di-bil'i-ti), n. [< de- 
scendible: see -bitity.] The quality of being 
descendible, or capable of being transmitted 
from ancestors : as, the descendibility of an es- 
tate or of a crown. 
descendible (de-sen'di-bl), a. [< descend + 
-ible.] 1. Capable of being descended with 
safety or comparative ease ; that permits of a 
safe downward passage : as, a descendible hill. 
2. That can descend from an ancestor to a 
descendant; capable of being transmitted, as 
from father to son : as, a descendible estate. 
There are some who . . . [assert that] the Benefices, 
which at first were held for life, became at last descendi- 
ble from father to son. 
Maine, Village Communities, p. 132. 
Also spelled descendable. 
descending (de-sen'ding), p. a. [Ppr. of de- 
scend, v.] 1. Moving or directed downward; 
characterized by downward direction. 
He cleft his head with one descending blow. Dryden. 
Specifically (o) In bot., turned downward : as, a descend- 
ing ovule ; the descending axis of a plant, the root, in dis- 
tinction from the stem or ascending axis. (6) In entom., 
sloping steeply from the surface behind ; directed oblique- 
ly downward or toward the ventral surface of the body : 
as, the rostrum of a weevil with descending scrobes. (c) 
In her., having the head turned toward the base of the 
shield : said of an animal used as a bearing. 
2. Characterized by descent or decrease as re- 
gards the value or importance of its constituent 
members ; indicating a continued lowering as 
regards position, value, or importance: as, a 
descending scale or series Descending axis. See 
oxtsi, 8. Descending letters, in type-founding, letters 
with a long stem that descends below the line, &sg,j,p,q,y. 
Descending node, the point at which a planet passes 
from the north to the south side of the ecliptic or of the 
equator. Descending rhytlim, in pros., a rhythm com- 
posed of feet in which the metrically unaccented part, 
commonly known as the thesis, follows the metrically 
accented part, commonly known as the arsis: so called 
because the voice is regarded as rising on the first and 
falling on the second part of each foot. According to the 
ancient mode of pronunciation, however, the first part of 
such feet took the stress, and the second not, regardless 
of pitch. The trochee (-^ >-), dactyl (- v ), Ionic a ma- 
jore (- *< *), first pseon (- ^ ^ ~), and antibacchius 
(-L ^) form cola or verses with descending rhythm, in 
contrast with the iambus (-< *), anapest (~ ~ -9, Ionic a 
minore (^ w ^ ), fourth pseon (~ ^ ^ -*), and Bacchius 
(^ -* ), which form series or lines with ascending rhythm. 
Descending series, in math., a series in which each 
term is numerically less than that preceding it ; also, an 
infinite series in descending powers of the variable that 
is, a series of the form a + bx 1 + ex 2 +, etc. 
descenset (de-sens'), n. [< OF. descense, de- 
scence, f., descens, m., = Sp. Pg. descenso, < L. 
descensus, a going down, descent, < descendere, 
pp. descensus, descend: see descend.'] Descent. 
A Reioynder to Doctor Hil concerning the Descense of 
Christ into Hell. By Alexander Hume Maister of Artes. 
A. Hume, Orthographic (E. E. T. S.), Pref., ix. 
descension (de-sen'shon), n. [Formerly also 
descention; < ME. descencioun, < OF. descension, 
descention, F. descension = Sp. descension = Pg. 
descensao = It. descensione, < L. descensio(n-), < 
descendere, pp. descensus, descend: see descend.] 
1. The act of going down or downward; de- 
scent, either literal or figurative. 
In Christ's descension, we are to consider both the place 
from which it did commence, and the place to which ft did 
proceed. South, Works, VII. i. 
2. A falling or precipitation; fall; declension. 
Whatsoever is dishonourable hath a base descention, and 
sinks beneath hell. 
Middleton, Sir R. Sherley Sent Ambassador. 
3f. In old chem., the deposition or precipitation 
of the essential juice dissolved from the dis- 
tilled matter. See distillation by descent, un- 
der descent. 4. In old astron., negative ascen- 
sion, the angular amount by which the projec- 
tion of a star from the pole upon the equinoc- 
tial is below some horizon. If this horizon passes 
through the poles and equinoctial points, the angle is 
called right descension ; if the horizon passes through the 
equinoctial points but not through the poles, the angle is 
called oblique descension. 
The lord of the assendent sey they that he is fortunat, 
whan he is in god place, . . . and that he be nat retrograd, 
. . . ne that he be nat in his descencioun, ne ioigned with 
no planete in his descencioun. Chaucer. 
descent Descensional difference*, in oldastron., the 
difference between the right and the oblique descension of 
the same star or point of the heavens. 
