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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.

That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit. According to their deserts will I judge them. Ezek. vii. 27. Andronicus, surnamed Pius For many good and great deserts to Rome. Shak. His reputation falls far below his desert. A. Hamil…

f. Wilson. Men were beginning . . . to desiderate for them an actual abode of fire. A. W. Ward.

first difficulty. Locke. We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that foundations of our national power still stand strong. D. Webster.

hing; betrothal. [Obs.] For all this desponsation of her . . . she had not set one step toward the consummation of her marriage. Jer. Taylor.

fate; lot; doom. Thither he Will come to know his destiny. Shak. No man of woman born, Coward or brave, can shun his destiny. Bryant.

ate; to settle. The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God. J. Edwards. Something divinely beautiful . . . that at some time or other might influence or even determine her course of life. W. Black.

vering of anything buried or covered with earth; a taking out of the earth or ground. Woodward.

The act of thrusting or driving down or outward; outward thrust. -- De*tru"sive, a.

A bending downward; a sloping; incurvation downward; declivity. [R.] Davies (Wit's Pilgr.)

The act of rolling down. [R.] The devolution of earth down upon the valleys. Woodward.

To roll onward or downward; to pass on. Every headlong stream Devolves its winding waters to the main. Akenside. Devolved his rounded periods. Tennyson.

ion; eager inclination; strong attachment love or affection; zeal; especially, feelings toward God appropriately expressed by acts of worship; devoutness. Genius animated by a fervent spirit of devotion. Macaulay.

In a devotional manner; toward devotion.

mposing the gummy matter of flax and hemp and setting the fibrous part, by exposure on a sward to dew, rain, and sunshine.