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A loose outer garment, extending from the neck downwards, and commonly without sleeves. It is longer than a cape, and is worn both by men and by women.

performed on horseback, -- the only sure mode of conveyamce. Prescott. Following th river downward, there is conveyance into the countries named in the text. Sir W. Raleigh.

A falling off towards a worse state; a downward tendency; deterioration; decay; as, the declension of virtue, of science, of a state, etc. Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts To base declension. Shak.

Bent downward or aside; (Bot.) bending downward in a curve; declined.

The act or state of bending downward; inclination; as, declination of the head.

To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend. "With declining head." Shak. He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family. Lady Hutchinson. Disdaining to decline, Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries. Byron…

Deviation from a horizontal line; gradual descent of surface; inclination downward; slope; -- opposed to acclivity, or ascent; the same slope, considered as descending, being a declivity, which, considered as ascending, is an acclivity.

Extending downward; -- said of a leaf whose base extends downward and forms a wing along the stem. -- De*cur"rent*ly, adv.

ending far below the surface; of great perpendicular dimension (measured from the surface downward, and distinguished from high, which is measured upward); far to the bottom; having a certain depth; as, a deep sea. The water where the brook is deep. Shak.

Bent downward; deflexed.

tate of being turned aside; a turning from a right line or proper course; a bending, esp. downward; deviation. The other leads to the same point, through certain deflections. Lowth.

Bent abruptly downward.

Downward flow. [Obs.] Bacon.

One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.

The quality of being deep; deepness; perpendicular measurement downward from the surface,or horizontal measurement backward from the front; as, the depth of a river; the depth of a body of troops.

To pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards; to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward; -- the opposite of ascend. The rain descended, and the floods came. Matt. vii. 25. We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller.…

Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards. Descending constellations or signs (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south. -- Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. -- Descending series (Math.), a series in which eac…

The act of going downward; descent; falling or sinking; declension; degradation. Oblique descension (Astron.), the degree or arc of the equator which descends, with a celestial object, below the horizon of an oblique sphere. -- Right descension, the degree or arc of the equator which descends below the horizon of a ri…

Tending to descend; tending downwards; descending. Smart.

The act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower.