The noble princedescended to one knee to ask for the princess’s hand in marriage.
1667,John Milton, “Book X”, inParadise Lost.[…], London:[…] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[…];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[…],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[…], London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…],1873,→OCLC, line1497:
[I]f, afterdeſcending a flight of ſtairs, vve attempt inadvertently to take another ſtep in the manner of the former ones, the ſhock is extreamly rude and diſagreeable; and by no art, can vve cauſe ſuch a ſhock by the ſame means, vvhen vve expect and prepare for it.
They took the steep path thatdescends the hill down to the beach.
1957 August, H. P. White, “The Tonbridge-Hastings Line and its Traffic”, inRailway Magazine, page528:
Soon after Crowhurst, the down grade steepens to 1 in 100 as the linedescends the side of a valley, at the mouth of which a glimpse of the sea can be caught—the only one.
a.1677 (date written),Matthew Hale, “Concerning Vegetables, and EspeciallyInsecta Animalia; whether any of Them areSponte Orta, or Arise Not ratherEx Præexistente Semine”, inThe Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London:[…] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery,[…], published1677,→OCLC, section III,page267:
[T]he common Devv exhaled from ſome ſorts of Herbs or VVeeds, but eſpecially from the common Graſs, carries vvith it the Seminal Tincture of the Herb, vvhich being againdeſcended by Devvs or Rain upon the bare and naked Earth, re-produceth the ſameSpecies:[…]
1528 September 24 (Gregorian calendar),J[ohn] S[herren] Brewer, compiler, “[A Commission of Sewers for the Marches of Calais,[…] Dated Hampton Court, 14 Sept. 20 Hen. VIII.]”, inLetters and papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign ofHenry VIII.[…], volume IV, part II, London:Longman & Co., andTrübner & Co.,[…], published1872,→OCLC, paragraph 5102 (Calais),page2232:
And there is another watergang, called Haile Fayers watergang, 4 miles long and 16 feet broad, whichdescendeth by a spoye of stone at Hofkirk bridge into the said great river, which must always be cast at the tenants' cost.
So God and man is oneChriſte. / Who ſuffered for oure ſaluacion:deſcended into hell, roſe agayne the third daye from the dead. / He aſcended into heauen, he ſytteth on the right hand of the father, God almighty: from whence he ſhall come to iudge the quicke and dead.
[…]Noe [i.e.,Noah] vvith his familie comming out of the arke vpon the top of the mount Cordicus,deſcended into the plaine at the foote of the mountaine filled vvith dead bodies (vvhich is calledMiri Adam, vvhich is as much as the place of bovvelled men)[…]
Dark Clouds bring VVaters, vvhen the bright bring none / Yea, dark or bright, if they their Silver drops / Cause todeſcend, the Earth, by yielding crops, / Gives praiſe to both, and carpeth not at either, / But treaſures up the Fruit they yield together:[…]
But this I knovv, ſhouldJupiter agen /Deſcend from heaven, to re-converſe vvith men; / The Romane Language full and ſuperfine, / IfIove vvo'd ſpeake, he vvo'd accept of thine.
The air was cold, and the rain again began todescend: we entered the hut, the fiend with an air of exultation, I with a heavy heart and depressed spirits.
O streamdescending to the sea, / Thy mossy banks between, / The flow'rets blow, the grasses grow, / The leafy trees are green. // In garden plots the children play, / The fields the labourers till, / And houses stand on either hand, / And thoudescendest still.
And they accosted the sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh and said to him, O our sheykh, Bahrám practised a strategem to effect his ascent to the top of the mountain, and how did hedescend, and what wonders did he see upon the mountain? The sheykh Abu-r-Ruweysh therefore said, O Ḥasan, tell them how thoudescendedst, and acquaint them with the wonders that thou sawest.
1844, Alexander Watson, “Whit Sunday.[A Prayer for Whitsuntide.]”, inThe Churchman’s Sunday Evenings at Home, volume II, London: W. J. Cleaver,[…]; Rugeley, Staffordshire: J. T. Walters,→OCLC,page163:
Let that mighty rushing wind, in which aforetime Thoudescendedst, purge away the chaff of our carnal affections, and with a holy violence beat down our strongholds of sin, and all the proud imaginations that resist Thy grace.
As it is, the miner is one of the most overworked and deplorably underpaid men in the country.[…] I know very well that if your supply of coal depended on my walking several miles to a pithead,descending in a cage for half a mile, walking again to the dwindling tunnel where I had to work, then slogging away for about seven hours in that hell, all for something like two pounds a week, your grates would be empty.
Rudy felt a gust of fear rise in his chest, and he looked again in the mirror, but the hangar and stable were now beyond the rise, out of sight, he wasdescending so fast.
(astronomy) Of acelestial body: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, to move towards thesouth.
1667,John Milton, “Book IV”, inParadise Lost.[…], London:[…] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[…];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[…],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[…], London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…],1873,→OCLC, lines540–543:
[T]he ſetting Sun / Slowlydeſcended, and with right aſpect / Againſt the eaſtern Gate of Paradiſe / Leveld his eevning Rayes:[…]
The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was beginning todescend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays, while the lake reflected the scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves that were beginning to rise.
a.1836 (date written),James Hogg,Flodden Field; republished in Robert Murray, “James Hogg”, inHawick Songs and Song Writers, 3rd edition, Hawick, Roxburghshire: W. & J. Kennedy,1897,→OCLC,page31:
Sol, with broaden'd orb,descending, / Left fierce warriors still contending, / Brilliant Vesper shed her glances, / Ere they sheathed their blood-stained lances.
Their ſails they loos'd, they laſh'd the maſt aſide, / And caſt their anchors, and the cables ty'd: / Then on the breezy ſhoredeſcending, join / In grateful banquet o'er the roſy vvine.
About ten o'clock a horse and wagon was descried making a slow approach to the camp over the prairie.[…] When the conveyance at length drew up to Mr. Thompson's door, the gentlemandescended with great deliberation, straightened himself up, rubbed his hands, and beaming satisfaction from every part of his radiant frame, advanced to the group that was gathered to welcome him, and which had saluted him by name as soon as he came within hearing.
Hear, Goddeſs, hear, by thoſe oblations vvon; / And for the pious fire preſerve the ſon: / His vviſh'd return vvith happy povv'r befriend, / And on the Suitors let thy vvrathdeſcend.
And she managed to keep the good news to herself, though it would seem that the most careless observer might have seen by her springing step and her radiant countenance that some fine piece of good fortune haddescended upon her.
[A]ll the tall chimneys in it [a photograph]—and I can count twenty-five—are smoking furiously, belching out thick dark clouds that look as if they willdescend on the ugly conglomeration of roofs below. That is what it must have looked like throughout all the great days of the industry.
1655, Thomas Fuller, “The Re-foundation of Waltham-Abby byHenry the Second”, inThe History ofWaltham-Abby in Essex, Founded by KingHarold, London:[[…] Iohn Williams[…]],→OCLC,page11:
But this ſubject begins to ſvvell beyond the bounds intended unto it, leſt therefore vvhat vve intended but aTract ſhould ſvvell to aTome, vve vvill heredeſcend to matters of later date.
1759 August 25, [Samuel Johnson], “The Idler. No. 72.”, inThe Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette, volume II, number73, London:[…] R. Stevens,[…],→OCLC,page 1, column 3:
He imagined that he had novv purchaſed the privilege of diſcourſe and began todeſcend to familiar queſtions, endeavouring to accommodate his diſcourſe to the groſſneſs of ruſtick underſtandings.
I suffer at times from damp snivelling colds in the head, whichdescend upon me quite suddenly, turning me into a helpless and disgusting red-nosed and red-eyed animal feebly crying for still more handkerchiefs.
2013, Alfred Grossmith Mason, Julie Grossmith Deltrice,Arctic Warriors: A Personal Account of Convoy PQ18[1], Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Maritime,Pen & Sword Books,→ISBN:
[T]he low growl of engines coming from high above the cloud cover, alerts us to the fact that there are many more aircraftdescending on us than had done during previous visits from the snoopers in their usual ones and twos.
1608,Jos[eph] Hall, “Of the Truly-noble”, inCharacters of Vertues and Vices:[…], London:[…] Melch[isidec] Bradwood for Eleazar Edgar and Samuel Macham,[…],→OCLC, 1st book (Characterismes of Vertues),page54:
[I]f (as ſeldome) hedeſcend to diſports of chance, his games ſhall neuer make him either pale vvith feare, or hote vvith deſire of gaine.
1667,John Milton, “Book VIII”, inParadise Lost.[…], London:[…] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[…];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[…],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[…], London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…],1873,→OCLC, lines168–171:
But what will not Ambition and Revenge /Deſcend to? vvho aſpires muſt down as low / As high he ſoard, obnoxious firſt or laſt / To baſeſt things.
1752 March 28 (Gregorian calendar),Samuel Johnson, “No. 208. [Tuesday], March 17. 1752.”, inThe Rambler, volume VIII, Edinburgh:[…] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair,[…], published1752,→OCLC,page171:
If I have not been diſtinguiſhed by the diſtributers of literary honours, I have ſeldomdeſcended to any of the arts by vvhich favour is obtained.
But that a shrewd statesman, whose earliest works are characterised by manliness of thought and language, should, at near sixty years of age,descend to such puerility, is utterly inconceivable.
1653,James Howell, “The Oration of the Lord George Frederique, Baron of Limburg, and Hereditary Officer to the Sacred Roman Empire, and Allwayes Free. Against Spain.”, inA German Diet: Or, The Ballance of Europe,[…], London:[…]Humphrey Moseley,[…],→OCLC,page26:
VVhen Ideſcend into my ſelf, and contemplat my moſt terrible horrible terribility, I can hardly hold my ſelf vvithin my ſelf;[…]
1715,George Cheyne, “Of the Use of the Arithmetick of Infinites. Corollary I.”, inPhilosophical Principles of Religion: Natural and Revealed:[…] Philosophical Principles of Religion. Part II.[…], London:[…]George Strahan[…],→OCLC,page162:
Indefinite numbers I ſuppoſe to be intermediate Numbers lying betvveen finite and infinite: For as vve do notdeſcend from 1 to 0 at one Step, but muſt paſs through an infinite Series of Fractions, ½, ⅓, ¼,1⁄5, &c.
1713 December 19 (Gregorian calendar),Richard Steele, “December 8.[1713].”, inThe Englishman: Being the Sequel of theGuardian, collected edition, number28, London:[…] Sam[uel] Buckley[…], published1714,→OCLC,page182:
[T]he eternal Mark of having had a vvicked Anceſtordeſcends to his Poſterity; his VVife is deprived of her Dovvry, and all his Deſcendants are made ignoble:[…]
The Rebels are in Southvvarke: Fly my Lord: /Iacke Cade proclaimes himſelfe LordMortimer, /Deſcended from the Duke ofClarence houſe, / And calles your Grace Vſurper, openly, / And vovves to Crovvne himſelfe in VVeſtminſter.
Thou ſhould'ſt haue better pleas'd me vvith this deede, / Hadſt thoudeſcended from another houſe:[…]
1616, Charles Steuens [i.e.,Charles Estienne]; John Liebault [i.e.,Jean Liébault];Gervase Markham, “[Of Hunting or Chasing of the Stag.] What Dogs are Best for the Course or Hunting.”, in Richard Surflet, transl.,Maison Rustique, or, The Countrey Farme.[…], new edition, London:[…] Adam Jslip for John Bill,→OCLC, book VII (The Warren),page674:
[I]f a dog be not vveldeſcended, that is to ſay, begot by an excellent dog, or an excellent bitch, there can be little hope of his goodneſſe.
The humble petition of WHOand WHICH,[…] We aredescended of ancient families, and kept up our dignity and honour many years till the jack-sprat THAT supplanted us.
An hero,deſcended from a race of Kings, muſt have deſpiſed the baſe Iſaurian vvho vvas inveſted vvith the Roman purple, vvithout any endovvments of mind or body, vvithout any advantages of royal birth, or ſuperior qualifications.
They came over to Massachusetts Bay in another vessel, and thus escaped the onus of that brevet nobility under which the successors of the Mayflower Pilgrims haddescended.
Didn't you know? I amdescended in the female line from the Court de Lauria who came over to England in the suite ofPhilip the Second and married a maid of honour of QueenMary.
[I]f the Tenant giue a part of the Tenancie to the father of the Lord in Taile, the father dieth, and thisdeſcends to the Lord, in this caſe by Act in Law the Seigniorie is ſuſpended in part and ineſſe for part, and the ſame Law is of a Rent charge.
As to eleemoſynary corporations, by thedotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, vvhich vvould otherwiſe havedeſcended to the viſitor himſelf:[…]
The possession of the sacred fire and of the ancestral sticks, carrying with it both political authority and priestly dignity,descends in the male line, and hence generally passes from father to son.
of a body part: to move downwards, especially during development of the embryo; specifically, of the testes of a mammal: to move downwards from the abdominal cavity into the scrotum
in speech or writing: to proceed from one matter to another; to pass from more general or important to specific or less important matters to be considered
[I]t ſhall be good if in your iourney you come to thedeſcend of anye great Hil, to light from your Horſes backe, and to vvalke dovvne the hill a foote,[…]
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, March 2024;“descend,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
descent (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
