descend

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
2. v. To slope, extend, or incline downward: "A rough path descended like a steep stair into the plain” ( J.R.R. Tolkien).
3. v. To come from an ancestor or ancestry: He was descended from a pioneer family.
4. v. To come down from a source; derive: a tradition descending from colonial days.
5. v. To pass by inheritance: The house has descended through four generations.
6. v. To lower oneself; stoop: "She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered” ( James Bryce).
7. v. To proceed or progress downward, as in rank, pitch, or scale: titles listed in descending order of importance; notes that descended to the lower register.
8. v. To arrive or attack in a sudden or an overwhelming manner: summer tourists descending on the seashore village.
9. v. To move from a higher to a lower part of; go down.
10. v. To get down from: "People descended the minibus that shuttled guests to the nearby . . . beach” ( Howard Kaplan).
11. v. To extend or proceed downward along: a road that descended the mountain in sharp curves.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To move or pass from a higher to a lower place; move, come, or go downward; fall; sink: as, he descended from the tower; the sun is descending.
2. To come or go down in a hostile manner; invade, as an enemy; fall violently: with on.
3. To proceed from a source or original; be derived lineally or by transmission; come or pass downward, as offspring in the line of generation, or as property from owner to heir.
4. To pass, as from general to particular statements: as, having explained the general subject, we will descend to particulars.
5. To come down from a certain moral or social standard; lower or abase one's self morally or socially: as, to descend to acts of meanness; to descend to an inferior position; hence, to condescend; stoop.
6. In astronomy, to move to the southward, or toward the south, as a star.
7. To move or pass downward upon or along; come or go down upon; pass from the top to the bottom of: as, to descend a hill; to descend an inclined plane.
8. In physical, to pass from higher to lower readings or values upon any scale: said specifically of the musical scale and of the thermometric scale.

Wiktionary

1. v. 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
2. v. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]
3. v. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.
4. v. 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. v. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
6. v. 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. v. To move toward the south, or to the southward.
8. v. To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
9. v. 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.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. 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.
2. v. To enter mentally; to retire.
3. v. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.
4. v. To come down to a lower, less fortunate, humbler, less virtuous, or worse, state or station; to lower or abase one's self.
5. v. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
6. v. 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
7. v. To move toward the south, or to the southward.
8. v. To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
9. v. To go down upon or along; to pass from a higher to a lower part of

WordNet 3.0

1. v. come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example
2. v. come as if by falling
3. v. move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
4. v. do something that one considers to be below one's dignity