descend

de|scend [ dı`send ] verb **

1. ) intransitive or transitive FORMAL to go down a mountain or slope, or to go downstairs:

I descended into the valley.

He slowly descended the stairs.

a ) intransitive to come nearer to the ground:

The airplane was preparing to descend.

b ) intransitive to become lower:

From here the path descends steeply.

c ) intransitive HUMOROUS to come down to a lower level, especially a lower social level

─ opposite ASCEND

2. ) intransitive LITERARY if night or darkness descends, it starts to get dark: FALL:

At 6:30 p.m. the tropical darkness descends.

a ) if something such as a feeling or quality descends, people start to experience it: FALL:

Total silence descended.

des`cend from phrasal verb transitive

1. ) descend from someone/something FORMAL to develop from something that happened or existed earlier:

the cultural traditions that descend from the Bible

2. ) be descended from to be related to a person or animal that lived long ago:

Her mother's family is descended from early Virginia settlers.

des`cend ,into phrasal verb transitive

descend into something if a situation descends into a certain bad state, it becomes bad:

Filming descended into chaos after further arguments.

des`cend on phrasal verb transitive

descend on someone/something if people descend on a person or a place, a lot of them arrive, often unexpectedly:

Crowds of tourists descended on the tiny church.

a. used about things that suddenly arrive or appear:

Waves of sadness descended on him.

des`cend to phrasal verb transitive

descend to (doing) something to start behaving in a bad way:

She won't descend to using that kind of language.