Definition of descent
- n. - The act of descending, or passing downward; change of
place from higher to lower.
- n. - Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion
from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon
the enemy.
- n. - Progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station,
virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from a higher to
a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to
the worse, etc.
- n. - Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation;
lineage; birth; extraction.
- n. - Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not
necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by
reason of consanguinity.
- n. - Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or
sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.
- n. - That which is descended; descendants; issue.
- n. - A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a
degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation.
- n. - Lowest place; extreme downward place.
- n. - A passing from a higher to a lower tone.