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. 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. (Science: anatomy) to move toward the south, or to the southward.
8. To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
Origin: f. Descendre, L. Descendere, descensum; de- – scandere to climb. See scan.