n. [ F. descente, fr. descendre; like vente, from vendre. See Descend. ] 1. The act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy. [ 1913 Webster ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station, virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, etc. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. (Law) Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ] 6. Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent. [ 1913 Webster ] 7. That which is descended; descendants; issue. [ 1913 Webster ] If care of our descent perplex us most,
Which must be born to certain woe. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] 8. A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation. [ 1913 Webster ] No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ] 9. Lowest place; extreme downward place. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ] And from the extremest upward of thy head,
To the descent and dust below thy foot. Shak. 10. (Mus.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone. Syn. -- Declivity; slope; degradation; extraction; lineage; assault; invasion; attack. [ 1913 Webster ] | 