Noun
The act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower.
Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy.
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.
Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction.
Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity.
Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.
That which is descended; descendants; issue.
A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation.
Lowest place; extreme downward place.
A passing from a higher to a lower tone.
Source: Webster's dictionaryNo one has ever proved that a human being, through his descent from a certain group of people, must of necessity have certain mental characteristics. Franz Boas
Genealogy, n. An account of one's descent from a man who did not particularly care to trace his own. Ambrose Bierce
The descent to Hades is the same from every place. Anaxagoras
Each ascent has a descent. Kurdish Proverb
He who boasts of his descent is like a potato: the best part is underground. American Proverb
The descent to hell is easy. English Proverb