*descent*

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

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]