Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Descent \De*scent"\, n. [F. descente, fr. descendre; like vente,
   from vendre. See {Descend}.]
   1. The act of descending, or passing downward; change of
      place from higher to lower.

   2. Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion
      from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a
      descent upon the enemy.

            The United Provinces . . . ordered public prayer to
            God, when they feared that the French and English
            fleets would make a descent upon their coasts.
                                                  --Jortin.

   3. Progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station,
      virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from
      a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less
      important, from the better to the worse, etc.

   2. Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation;
      lineage; birth; extraction. --Dryden.

   5. (Law) Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually,
      but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to
      inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity. --Abbott.

   6. Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or
      sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.

   7. That which is descended; descendants; issue.

            If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must
            be born to certain woe.               --Milton.

   8. A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a
      degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation.

            No man living is a thousand descents removed from
            Adam himself.                         --Hooker.

   9. Lowest place; extreme downward place. [R.]

            And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the
            descent and dust below thy foot.      --Shak.

   10. (Mus.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone.

   Syn: Declivity; slope; degradation; extraction; lineage;
        assault; invasion; attack.

Source : WordNet®

descent
     n 1: a movement downward
     2: properties attributable to your ancestry; "he comes from
        good origins" [syn: {origin}, {extraction}]
     3: the act of changing your location in a downward direction
     4: the kinship relation between an individual and the
        individual's progenitors [syn: {line of descent}, {lineage},
         {filiation}]
     5: a downward slope or bend [syn: {declivity}, {fall}, {decline},
         {declination}, {declension}, {downslope}] [ant: {ascent}]
     6: the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has
        been warriors" [syn: {lineage}, {line}, {line of descent},
         {bloodline}, {blood line}, {blood}, {pedigree}, {ancestry},
         {origin}, {parentage}, {stemma}, {stock}]