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