The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ascend \As*cend"\, v. t.
   To go or move upward upon or along; to climb; to mount; to go
   up the top of; as, to ascend a hill, a ladder, a tree, a
   river, a throne.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ascend \As*cend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ascended; p. pr. & vb.
   n. Ascending.] [L. ascendere; ad + scandere to climb,
   mount. See Scan.]
   1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to
      descend.
      [1913 Webster]

            Higher yet that star ascends.         --Bowring.
      [1913 Webster]

            I ascend unto my father and your father. --John xx.
                                                  17.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Formerly used with up.
         [1913 Webster]

               The smoke of it ascended up to heaven. --Addison.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an
      inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects,
      from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient
      times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our
      inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to
      our first progenitor.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ascend
    v 1: travel up, "We ascended the mountain"; "go up a ladder";
         "The mountaineers slowly ascended the steep slope" [syn:
         ascend, go up] [ant: come down, descend, fall,
         go down]
    2: go back in order of genealogical succession; "Inheritance may
       not ascend linearly"
    3: become king or queen; "She ascended to the throne after the
       King's death"
    4: appear to be moving upward, as by means of tendrils; "the
       vine climbed up the side of the house" [syn: ascend, climb
       up]
    5: go along towards (a river's) source; "The boat ascended the
       Delaware"
    6: slope upwards; "The path ascended to the top of the hill"
    7: come up, of celestial bodies; "The sun also rises"; "The sun
       uprising sees the dusk night fled..."; "Jupiter ascends"
       [syn: rise, come up, uprise, ascend] [ant: go down,
       go under, set]
    8: move to a better position in life or to a better job; "She
       ascended from a life of poverty to one of great [syn:
       ascend, move up, rise]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

113 Moby Thesaurus words for "ascend":
   advance, arise, aspire, back, back up, bank, budge,
   buss the clouds, cant, careen, chandelle, change, change place,
   circle, clamber, climb, come up, crest, curl upwards, decline,
   descend, dip, drop, ebb, escalade, escalate, fall, fall away,
   fall off, float, flow, gain altitude, get over, get up, go,
   go around, go downhill, go round, go sideways, go up, go uphill,
   grade, grow up, gyrate, hoick, incline, keel, lean, levitate, lift,
   list, loom, mount, move, move over, pitch, plunge, progress, rake,
   rear, rear up, regress, retreat, retrogress, rise, rise up, rotate,
   run, scale, scale the heights, scramble, shelve, shift, shin,
   sidle, sink, slant, slope, soar, spin, spiral, spire,
   stand on tiptoe, stand up, stir, stream, subside, surge, surmount,
   swag, swarm up, sway, sweep up, tilt, tip, top, tower, travel, up,
   upclimb, upgo, upgrow, upheave, uprear, uprise, upspin, upstream,
   upsurge, upswarm, upwind, wane, whirl, zoom