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