Wiktionary:Word of the day/2024/May 6

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descend v

Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. (transitive) To pass from a higher to a lower part of (something, such as a flight of stairs or a slope); to go down along or upon. (transitive) Of a flight of stairs, a road, etc.: to lead down (a hill, a slope, etc.). (transitive, archaic) To move (someone or something) from a higher to a lower place or position; to bring or send (someone or something) down. (intransitive) To physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position; to come or go down in any way, such as by climbing, falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to move downwards; to fall, to sink. (astrology) Of a zodiac sign: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, of a planet: to move to a place where it has less astrological significance. (astronomy) Of a celestial body: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, to move towards the south. (biology, physiology) Of a body part: to move downwards, especially during development of the embryo; specifically, of the testes of a mammal: to move downwards from the abdominal cavity into the scrotum. (chemistry, obsolete) Of a liquid substance: to distil out from another substance and gather at the bottom of a container; also, to distil a substance to obtain another liquid substance in this manner. (intransitive) To slope or stretch downwards. (intransitive, chiefly historical) To alight from a carriage, a horse, etc.; also, to disembark from a vessel; to land. (intransitive, figurative) To come or go down, or reduce, in intensity or some other quality. Of a physical thing (such as a a cloud or storm) or a (generally negative) immaterial thing (such as darkness, gloom, or silence): to settle upon and start to affect a person or place. In speech or writing: to proceed from one matter to another; especially, to pass from more general or important to specific or less important matters to be considered. Chiefly followed by into or to: of a situation: to become worse; to decline, to deteriorate. Chiefly followed by on or upon: to make an attack or incursion, from or as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence. Chiefly followed by on or upon: to arrive suddenly or unexpectedly, especially in a manner that causes disruption or inconvenience. (reflexive) To come down to a humbler or less fortunate, or a worse or less virtuous, rank or state; to abase or lower oneself; to condescend or stoop to something. (reflexive, chiefly poetic or religion) Chiefly in the form descend into (or within) oneself: to mentally enter a state of (deep) meditation or thought; to retire. (mathematics) Of a sequence or series: to proceed from higher to lower values. (music) To pass from a higher to a lower note or tone; to fall in pitch. Senses relating to passing down from a source to another thing. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To trace (a lineage) from earlier to later generations. (intransitive) Of a characteristic: to be transmitted from a parent to a child. (intransitive, often passive voice) Chiefly followed by from or (obsolete) of: to come down or derive from an ancestor or ancestral stock, or a source; to originate, to stem. (intransitive, chiefly law) Of property, a right, etc.: to pass down to a generation, a person, etc., by inheritance. [...]

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