Descent, n.
Etymology: [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.
9 more senses
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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for descent; he lists it under kin.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.