1. (v. i.) 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.

2. (v. i.) To enter mentally; to retire.

3. (v. i.) To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.

4. (v. i.) 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. (v. i.) To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.

6. (v. i.) 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. (v. i.) To move toward the south, or to the southward.

8. (v. i.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.

9. (v. t.) To go down upon or along; to pass from a higher to a lower part of; as, they descended the river in boats; to descend a ladder.

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