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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.

to the bronchi and their ramifications in the lungs. Bronchial arteries, branches of the descending aorta, accompanying the bronchia in all their ramifications. -- Bronchial cells, the air cells terminating the bronchia. -- Bronchial glands, glands whose functions are unknown, seated along the bronchia. -- Bronchia…

An inguinal hernia; esp. that incomplete variety in which the hernial pouch descends only as far as the groin, forming a swelling there like a bubo.

To spring with quick plunging leaps, descending with the fore legs rigid and the head held as low down as possible; -- said of a vicious horse or mule.

y (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.).

A descendant of Canaan, the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah.

Pertaining to, founded by, of descended from, Charlemagne; as, the Carlovingian race of kings.

taining to, or characterized by, that form of pulse tracing, or sphygmogram, in which the descending portion of the curve is marked by secondary elevations due to two or more expansions of the artery in the same beat. -- Ca*tac"rotism (#), n.

Ascending and descending fresh streams from and to the sea, as the salmon; anadromous. [R.]

e of people, who formerly inhabited a great part of Central and Western Europe, and whose descendants at the present day occupy Ireland, Wales, the Highlands of Scotland, and the northern shores of France. [Written also Kelt. The letter C was pronounced hard in Celtic languages.]

A son or a daughter; a male or female descendant, in the first degree; the immediate progeny of human parents; -- in law, legitimate offspring. Used also of animals and plants.

A native or natives of Ceylon descended from its primitive inhabitants; also (sing.),

proved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning. That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing. Glanvill.

necting pipes or passages, through which the fluid rises from the overheated portion, and descends from the relatively colder, maintaining a circulation.

Consisting of a cloud or clouds. As Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended. Ex. xxxiii. 9

That tie of consanguinity which exists between persons descended from the same mother; -- used in distinction from agnation.

Descending from the same stock or ancestor, but not in the same line or branch or one from the other; -- opposed to lineal.

"Nothing ancient or modern seems to come near it." Sir W. Temple. -- To come of. (a) To descend or spring from. "Of Priam's royal race my mother came." Dryden. (b) To result or follow from. "This comes of judging by the eye." L'Estrange. -- To come off. (a) To depart or pass off from. (b) To get free; to get away; t…

se of the cabin. -- Companion ladder (Naut.), the ladder by which officers ascend to, or descend from, the quarter-deck. Totten. -- Companion way (Naut.), a staircase leading to the cabin. -- Knights companions, in certain honorary orders, the members of the lowest grades as distinguished from knights commanders, kn…

One of the white natives of the Bahama Islands or one of their descendants in the Florida Keys; -- so called from the commonness of the conch there, or because they use it for food.