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.
v. i. - To enter mentally; to retire.
v. i. - To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.
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.
v. i. - To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
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.
v. i. - To move toward the south, or to the southward.
v. i. - To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
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.