Descend

Verb

 * 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 rain descended, and the floods came. Matthew vii. 25.
 * We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller.
 * 1)  To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]
 * [He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. John Milton.
 * 1)  To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.
 * And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Alexander Pope.
 * 1)  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.
 * 2)  To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
 * 3)  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.
 * 4)  To move toward the south, or to the southward.
 * 5)  To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
 * 6)  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.
 * But never tears his cheek descended. Byron.

Synonyms

 * go down

Antonyms

 * ascend
 * go up

Derived terms

 * descender

Related terms

 * descent

Adverbs for Descend
quickly; unexpectedly; noiselessly; sharply; gradually; hastily; giddily; benignly; impartially; laboriously; gracefully; fearsomely; pompously.

Thesaurus
advance, alight, ascend, assault, attack, back, back up, bank, be shamed, budge, cant, careen, cascade, cataract, change, change hands, change ownership, change place, circle, climb, climb down, collapse, come down, come in, condescend, crash, crash-land, decline, degenerate, deign, derogate, descend on, devolve, dip, dip down, disimprove, disintegrate, ditch, down, downwind, drop, drop down, drop off, ebb, fall, fall away, fall down, fall into disrepute, fall off, flow, get down, get over, go, go around, go down, go downhill, go round, go sideways, go uphill, grade, gravitate, gyrate, head, incline, incur discredit, incur disesteem, incur disgrace, invade, keel, land, lead, lean, level off, light, list, lose altitude, lose caste, lose countenance, lose credit, lose face, lower, lower oneself, mount, move, move over, overshoot, pancake, parachute, pass on, pitch, plummet, plunge, point, pounce, pounce on, pounce upon, pour down, precipitate, progress, rain, rake, regress, retreat, retrograde, retrogress, rise, rot, rotate, run, settle, settle down, shelve, shift, sidle, sink, slant, slope, soar, spin, stir, stoop, stream, subside, succeed, swag, sway, swoop, swoop down on, swoop down upon, talk down, tend, tend to go, tilt, tip, touch down, travel, trend downward, uprise, upwind, vouchsafe, wane, whirl, worsen

Etymology
< decenden: <  descendre: <  descendere:, past participle descensus: < de-: + scandere:. See scan, scandent. Compare ascend, condescend, transcend.

Translations

 * Bulgarian:, спускам се
 * Croatian:,  ,  ,
 * Czech:


 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:
 * Italian: scendere
 * Spanish:


 * Bulgarian:, предавам се по наследство
 * Croatian:
 * Dutch:


 * Finnish: ,
 * Romanian: descinde, proveni


 * Bulgarian: налитам, нахвърлям се


 * Finnish:

<!-- from Webster [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.

The rain descended, and the floods came. Matt. vii. 25. We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller. 2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]

[He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. Milton. 3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.

And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Pope. 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.

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

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.

7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward.

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

Descend (Page: 396) De*scend" (?), 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.

But never tears his cheek descended. Byron.

Displaying 1 result(s) from the 1828 edition:

DESCEND, v.i. [L. To climb.]

1. To move or pass from a higher to a lower place; to move, come or go downwards; to fall; to sink; to run or flow down; applicable to any kind of motion or of body. We descend on the feet, on wheels, or by falling. A torrent descends from a mountain.

The rains descended, and the floods came. Matt. 7.

2. To go down, or to enter.

He shall descend into battle and perish. Sam. 26.

3. To come suddenly; to fall violently.

And on the suitors let thy wrath descend.

4. To go in; to enter.

He, with honest meditations fed, into himself descended.

5. To rush; to invade, as an enemy.

The Grecian fleet descending on the town.

6. To proceed from a source or original; to be derived. The beggar may descend from a prince, and the prince, from a beggar.

7. To proceed, as from father to son; to pass from a preceding possessor, in the order of lineage, or according to the laws of succession or inheritance. Thus, an inheritance descends to the son or next of kin; a crown descends to the heir.

8. To pass from general to particular considerations; as, having explained the general subject, we will descend to particulars.

9. To come down from an elevated or honorable station; in a figurative sense. Flavius is an honorable man; he cannot descend to acts of meanness.

10. In music, to fall in sound; to pass from any note to another less acute or shrill, or from sharp to flat. DESCEND, v.t. To walk, move or pass downwards on a declivity; as, to descend a hill; to descend an inclined plain. [But this may be considered as elliptical; on or along being understood.] -->