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descending

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descending


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Descend  \De*scend"\,  v.  i.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Descended};  p.  pr  & 
  vb  n.  {Descending}.]  [F.  descendre,  L.  descendere, 
  descensum  de-  +  scandere  to  climb.  See  {Scan}.] 
  1.  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. 
 
  The  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came  --Matt. 
  vii.  25. 
 
  We  will  here  descend  to  matters  of  later  date. 
  --Fuller. 
 
  2.  To  enter  mentally;  to  retire.  [Poetic] 
 
  [He]  with  holiest  meditations  fed,  Into  himself 
  descended.  --Milton. 
 
  3.  To  make  an  attack,  or  incursion,  as  if  from  a  vantage 
  ground;  to  come  suddenly  and  with  violence;  --  with  on  or 
  upon 
 
  And  on  the  suitors  let  thy  wrath  descend.  --Pope. 
 
  4.  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.  To  pass  from  the  more  general  or  important  to  the 
  particular  or  less  important  matters  to  be  considered. 
 
  6.  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.  (Anat.)  To  move  toward  the  south,  or  to  the  southward. 
 
  8.  (Mus.)  To  fall  in  pitch;  to  pass  from  a  higher  to  a  lower 
  tone. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Descending  \De*scend"ing\,  a. 
  Of  or  pertaining  to  descent;  moving  downwards. 
 
  {Descending  constellations}  or  {signs}  (Astron.),  those 
  through  which  the  planets  descent  toward  the  south. 
 
  {Descending  node}  (Astron.),  that  point  in  a  planet's  orbit 
  where  it  intersects  the  ecliptic  in  passing  southward. 
 
  {Descending  series}  (Math.),  a  series  in  which  each  term  is 
  numerically  smaller  than  the  preceding  one  also  a  series 
  arranged  according  to  descending  powers  of  a  quantity. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  descending 
  adj  :  coming  down  or  downward  [syn:  {descending(a)}]  [ant:  {ascending(a)}] 




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