%descen%

a. [ L. candescens, -entis, p. pr. of candescere, v. incho. fr. candere to shine. ] Glowing; luminous; incandescent. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Condescended; p. pr. & vb. n. Condescending. ] [ F. condescendre, LL. condescendere, fr. L. con- + descendere. See Descend. ] 1. To stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior. “Condescend to men of low estate.” Rom. xii. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

Can they think me so broken, so debased
With corporal servitude, that my mind ever
Will condescend to such absurd commands? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Spain's mighty monarch,
In gracious clemency, does condescend,
On these conditions, to become your friend. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Often used ironically, implying an assumption of superiority. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those who thought they were honoring me by condescending to address a few words to me. F. W. Robinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To consent. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

All parties willingly condescended heruento. R. Carew.

Syn. -- To yield; stoop; descend; deign; vouchsafe. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ Cf. F. condescendance. ] Condescension. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. exhibiting an attitude of superiority; patronizing; -- used of behavior or attitude.
Syn. -- arch, patronizing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In a condescending manner. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. condescensio. ] The act of condescending; voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in intercourse with an inferior; courtesy toward inferiors. [ 1913 Webster ]

It forbids pride . . . and commands humility, modesty, and condescension to others. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such a dignity and condescension . . . as are suitable to a superior nature. Addison.

Syn. -- Complaisance; courtesy; affability. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Condescend, Descent. ] An act of condescension. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Descended; p. pr. & vb. n. Descending. ] [ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The rain descended, and the floods came. Matt. vii. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To enter mentally; to retire. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ He ] with holiest meditations fed,
Into himself descended. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

But never tears his cheek descended. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. descendant, p. pr. of descendre. Cf. Descendent. ] Descendent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who descends, as offspring, however remotely; -- correlative to ancestor or ascendant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our first parents and their descendants. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

The descendant of so many kings and emperors. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. all of the offspring of a given progenitor.
Syn. -- posterity. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. descendens, -entis, p. pr. of descendre. Cf. Descendant. ] Descending; falling; proceeding from an ancestor or source. [ 1913 Webster ]

More than mortal grace
Speaks thee descendent of ethereal race. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who descends. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being descendible; capability of being transmitted from ancestors; as, the descendibility of an estate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Admitting descent; capable of being descended. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That may descend from an ancestor to an heir. “A descendant estate.” Sir W. Jones. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

Descending constellations or
Descending signs (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south. --
Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. --
Descending series (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a descending manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. descension, L. descensio. See Descent. ] The act of going downward; descent; falling or sinking; declension; degradation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Oblique descension (Astron.), the degree or arc of the equator which descends, with a celestial object, below the horizon of an oblique sphere. --
Right descension, the degree or arc of the equator which descends below the horizon of a right sphere at the same time with the object. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to descension. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to descend; tending downwards; descending. Smart. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. descensorium: cf. OF. descensoire. See Descend. ] A vessel used in alchemy to extract oils. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

n. [ L. excandescentia. ] 1. A growing hot; a white or glowing heat; incandescence. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Violent anger; a growing angry. [ Obs. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. excandescens, p. pr. of excandescere to take fire, glow; ex out (intens.) + candescere to begin to glisten or glow, fr. candere. See Candid. ] White or glowing with heat. [ R. ] Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) (a) The time at which each species of plants unfolds its leaves. (b) The act of bursting into leaf. Milne. Martyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. incandescence. ] A white heat, or the glowing or luminous whiteness of a body caused by intense heat. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. incandecens, -entis, p. pr. of incandescere to become warm or hot; pref. in- in + candescere to become of a glittering whiteness, to become red hot, incho. fr. candere to be of a glittering whiteness: cf. F. incandescent. See Candle. ] White, glowing, or luminous, with intense heat; as, incandescent carbon or platinum; hence, clear; shining; brilliant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Holy Scripture become resplendent; or, as one might say, incandescent throughout. I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Incandescent lamp,
Incandescent light,
Incandescent light bulb (Elec.), a kind of lamp in which the light is produced by a thin filament of conducting material, now usually tungsten, but originally carbon, contained in a vacuum or an atmosphere of inert gas within a glass bulb, and heated to incandescence by an electric current. It was inventerd by Thomas Edison, and was once called the Edison lamp; -- called also incandescence lamp, and glowlamp. This is one of the two most common sources of electric light, the other being the fluorescent light, fluorescent lamp or fluorescent bulb. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ See Iridescent. ] Exhibition of colors like those of the rainbow, especially a surface reflection which changes color with the angle at which the object is viewed; the quality or state of being iridescent; a prismatic play of color; as, the iridescence of mother-of-pearl. It is due to interference of light waves reflected from the front and back surfaces of a thin layer transpatrent or semitransparent film. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. iris, iridis, the rainbow: cf. F. iridescent. ] Having colors like the rainbow; exhibiting a play of changeable colors; nacreous; prismatic; as, iridescent glass. See iridescence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state or quality of being lapidescent. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hardening into a stone substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A stony concretion. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. lapidescens, p. pr. of lapidescere to become stone, fr. lapis, -idis, stone: cf. F. lapidescent. ] Undergoing the process of becoming stone; having the capacity of being converted into stone; having the quality of petrifying bodies. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Any substance which has the quality of petrifying other bodies, or of converting or being converted into stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Cf. F. recrudescence. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The state or condition of being recrudescent. [ 1913 Webster ]

A recrudescence of barbarism may condemn it [ land ] to chronic poverty and waste. Duke of Argyll. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) Increased severity of a disease after temporary remission. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. recrudescens, -entis, p. pr. of recrudescere to become raw again; pref. re- re- + crudescere to become hard or raw: cf. F. recrudescent. ] 1. Growing raw, sore, or painful again. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Breaking out again after temporary abatement or supression; as, a recrudescent epidemic. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ Pref. re- + descend: cf. F. redescendre. ] To descend again. Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

See abolishable.
See absolvable.
See absurd.
See abundant.
See accordant.
See adoptable.
See adventurous.
See affable.
See affectionate.
See afraid.
See alliable.
See allowable.
See alterable.
See ambiguous.
See ambitious.
See amendable.
See -American.
See amusive.
See angular.
See anxious.
See apocryphal.
See apostolic.
See apparent.
See appeasable.
See applausive.
See appreciable.
See apprehensible.
See apprehensive.
See approachable.
See artificial.
See artistic.
See assailable.
See attainable.
See attentive.
See authentic.
See available.
See bailable.
See bearable.
See beautiful.
See beliefful.
See believable.
See beneficial.
See benevolent.
See blamable.
See blemishable.
See blissful.
See boastful.
See bold.
See bookish.
See bounteous.
See bribable.
See brotherly.
See burdensome.
See businesslike.
See busy.
See candid.
See canonical.
See captious.
See careful.
See celestial.
See ceremonious.
See challengeable.
See changeable.
See chary.
See chastisable.
See cheerful.
See cheery.
See childish.
See chivalrous.
See choleric.
See christianlike.
See circumspect.
See civic.
See classible.
See classic.
See classical.
See cleanly.
See clear.
See clerical.
See clerklike.
See close.
See cloudy.
See clubbable.
See coagulable.
See cogitable.
See collectible.
See comic.
See commendable.
See commercial.
See communicable.
See communicative.
See compact.
See companionable.
See compassionate.
See compellable.
See competitive.
See complaisant.
See compliant. See complimentary.
See concealable.
See concurrent.
See conditionate.
See confinable.
See confutable.
See congealable.
See congenial.
See conjugal.
See conjunctive.
See conquerable.
See consecrate.
See containable.
See contaminate.
See contradictable.
See contrite.
See convenable.
See conventional.
See conversable.
See conversant.
See convertible.
See coquettish.
See cordial.
See corpulent.
See correspondent.
See corruptible.
See corruptive.
See costly.
See counselable.
See countable.
See counterfeit.
See courteous.
See courtierlike.
See courtly.
See crafty.
See creatable.
See critical.
See crystalline.
See cultivable.
See curious.
See customary.
See dangerous.
See daughterly.
See dead.
See deceivable.
See decidable.
See decipherable.
See declinable.
See decomposable.
See definable.
See delectable.
See deliberate.
See delightful.
See deliverable.
See democratic.
See demonstrable.
See demonstrative.
See deniable.
See derogatory.
See descendible.
See describable.
See desirable.
See desirous.
See despondent.
See devout.
See diaphanous.
See diligent.
See diminishable.
See discernible.
See disciplinable.
See discordant.
See discoverable.
See dissolvable.
See distinguishable.
See dividable.
See divine.
See domestic.
See doubtful.
[ 1913 Webster ]

n. Quality or state of being viridescent. [ 1913 Webster ]