descend
descend (dĭ-sĕndʹ) verb
descended, descending, descends
verb, intransitive
1. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
2. To slope, extend, or incline downward: "A rough path descended like a steep stair into the plain" (J.R.R. Tolkien).
3. a. To come from an ancestor or ancestry: She was descended from a pioneer family. b. To come down from a source; derive: a tradition descending from colonial days. c. To pass by inheritance: The house has descended through four generations.
4. To lower oneself; stoop: "She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered" (James Bryce).
5. To proceed or progress downward, as in rank, pitch, or scale: titles listed in descending order of importance; notes that descended to the lower register.
6. To arrive or attack in a sudden or an overwhelming manner: summer tourists descending on the seashore village.
verb, transitive
1. a. To move from a higher to a lower part of; go down. b. To get down from: "People descended the minibus that shuttled guests to the nearby . . . beach" (Howard Kaplan).
2. To extend or proceed downward along: a road that descended the mountain in sharp curves.
[Middle English descenden, from Old French descendre, from Latin dēscendere : dē-, de- + scandere, to climb.]
descendʹible or descendʹable adjective