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any person; situation. "When I came to man's estate." Shak. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Romans xii. 16.

evolves. Whewell. Not by any power evolved from man's own resources, but by a power which descended from above. J. C. Shairp.

Derivation from a stock or family; lineage; descent; birth; the stock from which one has descended. "A family of ancient extraction." Clarendon.

Extracted; descended. [Obs.] Knowing whence thou art extraught Shak.

To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as, the apple falls; the tide falls; the mercury falls in the barometer. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Luke x. 18.

Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the family of Abraham; the father of a family. Go ! and pretennd your family is young. Pope.

Descended from Fatima, the daughter and only child of Mohammed. -- n.

to envelop; to infold; to clasp; to embrace. A face folded in sorrow. J. Webster. We will descend and fold him in our arms. Shak.

te of inheritance given to a man his wife (the wife being of the blood of the donor), and descendible to the heirs of their two bodies begotten. [Obs.] Blackstone.

ng to Galatia or its inhabitants. -- A native or inhabitant of Galatia, in Asia Minor; a descendant of the Gauls who settled in Asia Minor.

vidual evolution pass through a two-layered structural stage, or gastrula form, must have descended. This idea constitutes the Gastræa theory of Haeckel. See Gastrula.

A tenure by which land descended from the father to all his sons in equal portions, and the land of a brother, dying without issue, descended equally to his brothers. It still prevails in the county of Kent. Cowell.

ificalness, practicalness, or application; a general or vague statement or phrase. Let us descend from generalities to particulars. Landor. The glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence. R. Choate.

Stairs descending to a river; a landing place; a wharf. [India] Malcom.

mmense; tremendous; extraordinarly; as, gigantic deeds; gigantic wickedness. Milton. When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Strom wind of the equinox. Longfellow.

, to fall or be carried overboard; as, the mast went by the board. -- To go down. (a) To descend. (b) To go below the horizon; as, the sun has gone down. (c) To sink; to founder; -- said of ships, etc.

rcy; characterized by grace; beneficent; merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor; condescending; as, his most gracious majesty. A god ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. Neh. ix. 17. So hallowed and so gracious in the time. Shak.

A diatonic ascending or descending succession of chords.

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

Rising or descending by regular degrees of inclination; as, the gradient line of a railroad.