descent

Definitions

1. 1.Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; - - often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy. 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.
2. 2.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.
3. 3.Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction. Dryden.
4. 4.(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.
5. 5.Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.
6. 6.That which is descended; descendants; issue. If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must be born to certain woe. Milton.
7. 7.A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation. No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. Hooker.
8. 8.Lowest place; extreme downward place. [R.] And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust below thy foot. Shak.
9. 9.(Mus.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "descent" mean?
• What is another word for "descent"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is descent.

• What is derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction. Dryden called?
• What is transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity. Abbott called?
• What is inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent called?
• What is that which is descended; descendants; issue. If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must be born to certain woe. Milton called?
• What is a step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation. No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. Hooker called?
• What is lowest place; extreme downward place. [R.] And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust below thy foot. Shak called?
• What is a passing from a higher to a lower tone called?