Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Descend \De*scend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Descended}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Descending}.] [F. descendre, L. descendere,
   descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See {Scan}.]
   1. 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.

   2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]

            [He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself
            descended.                            --Milton.

   3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage
      ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or
      upon.

            And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. --Pope.

   4. To come down to a lower, less fortunate, humbler, less
      virtuous, or worse, state or station; to lower or abase
      one's self; as, he descended from his high estate.

   5. To pass from the more general or important to the
      particular or less important matters to be considered.

   6. To come down, as from a source, original, or stock; to be
      derived; to proceed by generation or by transmission; to
      fall or pass by inheritance; as, the beggar may descend
      from a prince; a crown descends to the heir.

   7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward.

   8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower
      tone.

Descend \De*scend"\, v. t.
   To go down upon or along; to pass from a higher to a lower
   part of; as, they descended the river in boats; to descend a
   ladder.

         But never tears his cheek descended.     --Byron.

Source : WordNet®

descend
     v 1: move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way;
          "The temperature is going down"; "The barometer is
          falling"; "The curtain fell on the diva"; "Her hand went
          up and then fell again" [syn: {fall}, {go down}, {come
          down}] [ant: {rise}, {ascend}]
     2: come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for
        example; "She was descended from an old Italian noble
        family"; "he comes from humble origins" [syn: {derive}, {come}]
     3: do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
        [syn: {condescend}, {deign}]
     4: come as if by falling; "Night fell"; "Silence fell" [syn: {fall},
         {settle}]