What does "downwards" mean?

Downwards: From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin. And downward fell into a groveling swine. Milton.

Additional senses

  1. 2.From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line. A ring the county wears, That downward hath descended in his house, From son to son, some four or five descents. Shak.

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