ascend

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To go or move upward; rise. See Synonyms at rise.
2. v. To slope upward.
3. v. To rise from a lower level or station; advance: ascended from poverty to great wealth; ascend to the throne.
4. v. To go back in time or upward in genealogical succession.
5. v. To move upward upon or along; climb: ascended the mountain.
6. v. To succeed to; occupy: ascended the throne upon the death of her father.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To move upward; mount; go up; rise, whether in air or water, or upon a material object.
2. To rise, in a figurative sense; proceed from an inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, etc.
3. To slope upward.
4. To go backward in the order of time; proceed from modern to ancient times: as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity.
5. To rise, as a star; appear above the horizon.
6. In music, to rise in pitch; pass from any tone to one more acute. Synonyms To mount, soar, climb.
7. To go or move upward upon; climb: as, to ascend a hill or ladder; to ascend a tree.
8. To move upward along; go toward the source of: as, to ascend a river. Synonyms To mount, climb, scale.

Wiktionary

1. v. intransitive To move upward, to fly, to soar.
2. v. intransitive To slope in an upward direction.
3. v. transitive To go up.
4. v. transitive To succeed.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to descend.
2. v. To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute, etc.
3. v. To go or move upward upon or along; to climb; to mount; to go up the top of.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. become king or queen
2. v. come up, of celestial bodies
3. v. go along towards (a river's) source
4. v. travel up,
5. v. go back in order of genealogical succession
6. v. slope upwards
7. v. move to a better position in life or to a better job
8. v. appear to be moving upward, as by means of tendrils