De*scent" (?), 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.
2. 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.
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.
2. Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure
by generation; lineage; birth; extraction. Dryden.
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.
6. Inclination downward; a descending way;
inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep
descent.
7. That which is descended; descendants;
issue.
If care of our descent perplex us most,
Which must be born to certain woe.
Milton.
8. 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.
9. Lowest place; extreme downward
place. [R.]
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.
