descend

Verb

Synonyms: fall go down come down derive come condescend deign settle

WordNet 3.0

Verb (4)

move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way“The temperature is going down”“The barometer is falling”“The curtain fell on the diva”“Her hand went up and then fell again”Synonyms: fall go down come down
come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example“She was descended from an old Italian noble family”“he comes from humble origins”Synonyms: derive come
do something that one considers to be below one's dignitySynonyms: condescend deign
come as if by falling“Night fell”“Silence fell”Synonyms: fall settle

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Descend \De*scend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descended; p. pr. & vb. n. Descending.] [F. descendre, L. descendere, descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See Scan.]

1.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. [1913 Webster]

The rain descended, and the floods came.— Matt. vii. 25.[1913 Webster]

We will here descend to matters of later date.— Fuller.[1913 Webster]

2.To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic] [1913 Webster]

[He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

3.To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. [1913 Webster]

And on the suitors let thy wrath descend.— Pope.[1913 Webster]

4.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. [1913 Webster]

5.To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered. [1913 Webster]

6.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. [1913 Webster]

7.(Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward. [1913 Webster]

8.(Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone. [1913 Webster]

Descend \De*scend"\, 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. [1913 Webster]

But never tears his cheek descended. --Byron. [1913 Webster]