descend

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position.

   they descended the river in boats

2. 2
   noun

   Synonym of descent (“instance of descending; sloping incline or passage; way down; decline, etc.”).

   [I]t ſhall be good if in your iourney you come to the deſcend of anye great Hil, to light from your Horſes backe, and to vvalke dovvne the hill a foote, […]

3. 3
   verb

   come as if by falling

4. 4
   verb

   move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way

5. 5
   verb

   do something that one considers to be below one's dignity

6. 6
   verb

   come from

7. 7
   verb

   Senses relating to passing down from a source to another thing.

Etymology

PIE word *de The verb is derived from Middle English descenden (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to go from a better to a worse condition, decline, degenerate; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”), from Anglo-Norman descendere, descendre, and Old French descendere, descendre (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”) (modern French descendre), and from their etymon Latin dēscendere, the present active infinitive of dēscendō (“to come or go down, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descen…