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A ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax.

A porcelainlike kind of decorative pottery with a high gloss, which is sometimes iridescent. A very fine kind is made at Belleek in Ireland.

Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction. Elected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications. Prescott.

Relationship by descent from a common ancestor; consanguinity; kinship. To share the blood of Saxon royalty. Sir W. Scott. A friend of our own blood. Waller. Half blood (Law), relationship through only one parent. -- Whole blood, relationship through both father and mother. In American Law, blood includes both half bl…

one's self or of things belonging to one's self; as, to boast of one's exploits courage, descent, wealth. By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: .. not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. ii. 8, 9.

A colonist or farmer in South Africa of Dutch descent.

her given point in a shorter time than it could by any other path. This curve of quickest descent, as it is sometimes called, is, in a vacuum, the same as the cycloid.

A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line; as, the English branch of a family. His father, a younger branch of the ancient stock. Carew.

Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.] Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. Shak. Close breeding, In and in breeding, breeding from a male and female from the same parentage. -- Cross breeding, breeding from a male and female of different lineage. -- Good breeding, politeness; genteel deportment.…

Descent of related families; distinction between the members of a family according to their ages. Marks of cadency (Her.), bearings indicating the position of the bearer as older or younger son, or as a descendant of an older or younger son. See Difference (Her.).

In Louisiana, a person reputed to be Acadian French descent.

n and sand together in an electric furnace. The commercial article is dark-colored and iridescent. It is harder than emery, and is used as an abrasive.

te infusible substance constituting about one per cent of the material of the common incandescent mantle.

us of Ctenophora. The typical species (Cestus Veneris) is remarkable for its brilliant iridescent colors, and its long, girdlelike form.

An atmosphere of rare matter, composed principally of incandescent hydrogen gas, surrounding the sun and enveloping the photosphere. Portions of the chromosphere are here and there thrown up into enormous tongues of flame.

Inclination; ascent or descent; a gradient. [R.]

Relationship by blood; descent from the same original; kindred. As by our cognation to the body of the first Adam. Jer. Taylor.

The act of condescending; voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in intercourse with an inferior; courtesy toward inferiors. It forbids pride . . . and commands humility, modesty, and condescension to others. Tillotson. Such a dignity and condescension . . . as are suitable to a superior nature. Addison.…

Spain or in the States which were once such colonies, esp. a person of French or Spanish descent, who is a native inhabitant of Louisiana, or one of the States adjoining, bordering on the Gulf of of Mexico.

ite portion of it a straight line. Axis of a curve. See under Axis. -- Curve of quickest descent. See Brachystochrone. -- Curve tracing (Math.), the process of determining the shape, location, singular points, and other perculiarities of a curve from its equation. -- Plane curve (Geom.), a curve such that when a pla…