Search the Dictionary

To descend with closed wings from a height upon prey, as a hawk; to swoop.

A curved line, such that a heavy body, descending along it by the action of gravity, will always arrive at the lowest point in the same time, wherever in the curve it may begin to fall; as, an inverted cycloid with its base horizontal is a tautochrone.

To be attentive to; to note carefully; to attend to. Being to descend A ladder much in height, I did not tend My way well down. Chapman. To tend a vessel (Naut.), to manage an anchored vessel when the tide turns, so that in swinging she shall not entangle the cable.

ter immersing the other end in a vessel of the same fluid, allowing the inclosed fluid to descend till it is counterbalanced by the pressure of the atmosphere, as in the barometer. Hutton.

posterity; the transmission of any knowledge, opinions, or practice, from forefathers to descendants by oral communication, without written memorials.

Of or pertaining to tradition; derived from tradition; communicated from ancestors to descendants by word only; transmitted from age to age without writing; as, traditional opinions; traditional customs; traditional expositions of the Scriptures.

To transfer; to transmit; to hand down; as, to traduce mental qualities to one's descendants. [Obs.] Glanvill.

A family, race, or series of generations, descending from the same progenitor, and kept distinct, as in the case of the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. "The Lion of the tribe of Juda." Rev. v. 5. A wealthy Hebrew of my tribe. Shak.

To turn round; to twirl. [Obs.] Gascoigne. Bid him descend and trill another pin. Chaucer.

ity of their flesh. All the species breed in fresh water, but after spawning many of them descend to the sea if they have an opportunity.

Of or pertaining to a royal line of England, descended from Owen Tudor of Wales, who married the widowed queen of Henry V. The first reigning Tudor was Henry VII.; the last, Elizabeth. Tudor style (Arch.), the latest development of Gothic architecture in England, under the Tudors, characterized by flat four-centered ar…

To inclose in, or as in, an urn; to inurn. When horror universal shall descend, And heaven's dark concave urn all human race. Young.

To come or descend; to be fixed; to take effect, as a title or right; -- followed by in; as, upon the death of the ancestor, the estate, or the right to the estate, vests in the heir at law.

To condescend to grant; to concede; to bestow. If ye vouchsafe that it be so. Chaucer. Shall I vouchsafe your worship a word or two Shak. It is not said by the apostle that God vouchsafed to the heathens the means of salvation. South.

rus) of the Seal family, native of the Arctic Ocean. The male has long and powerful tusks descending from the upper jaw. It uses these in procuring food and in fighting. It is hunted for its oil, ivory, and skin. It feeds largely on mollusks. Called also morse.

The fluid which descends from the clouds in rain, and which forms rivers, lakes, seas, etc. "We will drink water." Shak."Powers of fire, air, water, and earth." Milton.

e deer (Hydropotes inermis). Both sexes are destitute of antlers, but the male has large, descending canine tusks.

ce, source, etc., from which; -- used relatively. Grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends. Milton.

A white mark in the forehead of a horse, descending almost to the nose; -- called also white-blaze.

h. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment. at will. Wince pit, Wince pot, a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like.