descend
 de·scend (dĭ-sĕndʹ)v. de·scend·ed, de·scend·ing, de·scendsv. intr.
1. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
2. To slope, extend, or incline downward: “A rough path descended like a steep stair into the plain” (J.R.R. Tolkien).
3.
a. To come from an ancestor or ancestry:
He was descended from a pioneer family.
b. To come down from a source; derive:
a tradition descending from colonial days.
c. To pass by inheritance:
The house has descended through four generations.
4. To lower oneself; stoop: “She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered” (James Bryce).
5. To proceed or progress downward, as in rank, pitch, or scale:
titles listed in descending order of importance; notes that descended to the lower register.
6. To arrive or attack in a sudden or an overwhelming manner:
summer tourists descending on the seashore village.v. tr.
1.
a. To move from a higher to a lower part of; go down.
b. To get down from: “People descended the minibus that shuttled guests to the nearby... beach” (Howard Kaplan).
2. To extend or proceed downward along:
a road that descended the mountain in sharp curves. [Middle English descenden, from Old French descendre, from Latin dēscendere: dē-, de- + scandere, to climb; See skand- in Indo-European Roots.] de·scendʹi·ble or de·scendʹa·ble adj.
|
|
