1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; — opposed to descend.
Higher yet that star ascends.
Bowring.
I ascend unto my father and your father.
John xx. 17.
Formerly used with up.
The smoke of it ascended up to heaven.
Addison.
2. To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble
objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute,
etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor.
Syn. — To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
Ascend
(As*cend"), v. t. To go or move upward upon or along; to climb; to mount; to go up the top of; as,
to ascend a hill, a ladder, a tree, a river, a throne.
Ascendable
(As*cend"a*ble) a. Capable of being ascended.
Ascendancy
(As*cend"an*cy As*cend"ance) n. Same as Ascendency.
Ascendant
(As*cend"ant) n. [F. ascendant, L. ascendens; p. pr. of ascendere.]
1. Ascent; height; elevation. [R.]
Sciences that were then in their highest ascendant.
Temple.
2. (Astrol.) The horoscope, or that degree of the ecliptic which rises above the horizon at the moment
of one's birth; supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's life and fortune.
Hence the phrases
To be in the ascendant, to have commanding power or influence, and Lord of
the ascendant, one who has possession of such power or influence; as, to rule, for a while, lord of the
ascendant. Burke.
3. Superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency; as, one man has the ascendant over another.
Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the ascendant not only of a tutor, but of a
parent.
Robertson.
4. An ancestor, or one who precedes in genealogy or degrees of kindred; a relative in the ascending
line; a progenitor; — opposed to descendant. Ayliffe.
Ascendant
(As*cend"ant As*cend"ent) a.
1. Rising toward the zenith; above the horizon.
The constellation . . . about that time ascendant.
Browne.
2. Rising; ascending. Ruskin.
