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Belonging to that space of time in which the moon performs one revolution, from ascending node to ascending node. See Dragon's head, under Dragon. [Obs.] "Dracontic month." Crabb.

called by the ancients the orthography. Angle of elevation (Geodesy), the angle which an ascending line makes with a horizontal plane. -- Elevation of the host (R. C. Ch.), that part of the Mass in which the priest raises the host above his head for the people to adore.

e beginning of darkness or night; properly, the decline of the day, or of the sum. In the ascending scale Of heaven, the stars that usher evening rose. Milton.

Exhalation; volatile matter (esp. noxious vapor or smoke) ascending in a dense body; smoke; vapor; reek; as, the fumes of tobacco. The fumes of new shorn hay. T. Warton. The fumes of undigested wine. Dryden.

A diatonic ascending or descending succession of chords.

A graded ascending, descending, or level portion of a road; a gradient.

ircular or spiral motion; motion about an axis; rotation; revolution. The gyrations of an ascending balloon. De Quincey. If a burning coal be nimbly moved round in a circle, with gyrations continually repeated, the whole circle will appear like fire. Sir I. Newton.

ion; a circuit. Quick and more quick he spins in giddy gyres. Dryden. Still expanding and ascending gyres. Mrs. Browning.

dle toe toothed. The common European heron (Ardea cinerea) is remarkable for its directly ascending flight, and was formerly hunted with the larger falcons.

Rising higher; ascending. In ever highering eagle circles. Tennyson.

The increase of a variable quantity or fraction from its present value to its next ascending value; the finite quantity, generally variable, by which a variable quantity is increased.

art of a psalm or other portion of Scripture read by the priest at Mass immediately after ascending to the altar.

The angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic. Ascending latitude, Circle of latitude, Geographical latitude, etc. See under Ascending. Circle, etc. -- High latitude, that part of the earth's surface near either pole, esp. that part within either the arctic or the antarctic circle. -- Low latitude, that p…

e play; a sort of musical label. -- Leading note (Mus.), the seventh note or tone in the ascending major scale; the sensible note. -- Leading question, a question so framed as to guide the person questioned in making his reply. -- Leading strings, strings by which children are supported when beginning to walk. -- T…

s or succession of ancestors or descand ants of a given person; a family or race; as, the ascending or descending line; the line of descent; the male line; a line of kings. Of his lineage am I, and his offspring By very line, as of the stock real. Chaucer.

escent in a line from a common progenitor; progeny; race; descending line of offspring or ascending line of parentage. Both the lineage and the certain sire From which I sprung, from me are hidden yet. Spenser.

But, for melodic purposes, both the sixth and the seventh are sometimes made major in the ascending, and minor in the descending, scale, thus: --See Major. -- Minor term of syllogism (Logic), the subject of the conclusion.

In an ascending manner.

To adjoin; to border on; tobe near to. Leisurely ascending hills that neighbor the shore. Sandys.

The most important salmon of Alaska (Oncorhinchus nerka), ascending in spring most rivers and lakes from Alaska to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; --called also red salmon, redfish, blueback, and sawqui.