1. (n.) A change of place from higher to lower; as, a descent from a mountaintop.

2. (n.) Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy.

3. (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.

4. (n.) Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction.

5. (n.) Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity.

6. (n.) Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.

7. (n.) That which is descended; descendants; issue.

8. (n.) A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation.

9. (n.) Lowest place; extreme downward place.

10. (n.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone.