1[intransitiveI, transitiveT] formalDOWN to move from a higher level to a lower one 下来,下降OPP ascend → descent
Our plane started to descend.
我们的飞机开始下降。
I heard his footsteps descending the stairs.
我听到他下楼的脚步声。
descend to/from/into etc
The path continues for some way before descending to Garsdale Head.
小径延伸了一段距离后,向下通往加斯代尔角。
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In everyday English, people usually say go down or come down rather than descend: 在日常英语中,人们一般说 go down 或 come down ,而不说 descend
They went down into the lobby.
他们下楼进了大厅。
I heard his footsteps coming down the stairs.
我听到他下楼的脚步声。
2[intransitiveI] literaryTMC if darkness, silence, a feeling etc descends, it becomes dark etc or you start to feel something, especially suddenly 〔黑暗、寂静等突然〕降临;〔感情等突然〕袭来,来临
descend on/upon/over
Total silence descended on the room.
房间里突然一片寂静。
An air of gloom descended over the party headquarters.
一片阴郁的气氛笼罩着该党总部。
3in descending order (of something)ORDER/SEQUENCEnumbers, choices etc that are in descending order are arranged from the highest or most important to the lowest or least important 按(某事物的)降序排列〔按照从高到低或从重要到次要的顺序排列〕
The hotels are listed in descending order of price.
a)be descended from somebodySSFCOME FROM/ORIGINATE to be related to a person or group who lived a long time ago 为某人的后裔
She claims to be descended from Abraham Lincoln.
她声称自己是亚伯拉罕·林肯的后代。
The people here are descended from the Vikings.
这里的人是维京人的后裔。
b)COME FROM/ORIGINATEto have developed from something that existed in the past 从〔过去的东西〕发展而来[传下来]SYN come from
ideas that descend from those of ancient philosophers
传承自古代哲学家的观点
Examples from the Corpus
descend from • All Gauls claimed to be descended from him.• Man appears to be descended from patrilineal ancestors.• The family was an illegitimatebranch of the Yorkshire Hoptons, being descended fromSir Robert Swillington by his mistress Joan Hopton.• For a split second, the noise that had been rising from stadium to skydescended from sky to stadium.• Then he walked back to the bridgesite to meet his wife, who was coolly descending from the ironbasket.• Guerrillasdescended from the Lacandon Volcano in Quetzaltenago.• Because they were descended from them, many sometimesdescending from a single ancestral species.
be descended from somebody• The University of Edinburgh's most famousdropout, Charles Darwin, pointed out that humanbeingsare descended from animals.• Stu's motheris descended fromCherokee Indians.• All Gauls claimed to be descended from him.• Through him the Merovingians can thus claim to be descended from Noah.• If you believe in evolution, you believe man is descended from primates, and primates are vegetarian.• One family has a Confederatecavalryman among its forebears, the other is descended fromslaves.• Power still comes from a small block, two-valve push-rod V-8 whose principalarchitectureis descended from the 1953 original.• When he jokingly referred to the story that he was descended from the Devil he meant no disrespect to his ancestor Woden.• Because they were descended from them, many sometimes descending from a single ancestral species.
5descend on/upon somebody/somethingphrasal verbphr vVISITif a large number of people descend on a person or a place, they come to visit or stay, especially when they are not very welcome 〔许多人〕突然造访〔尤指不太受欢迎的情况下〕
Millions of tourists descend on the area every year.
每年有数百万游客来到这个地区。
Examples from the Corpus
descend on/upon • The illness which had descended on her seemed to draw in its claws.• Her children descended on me in a fury.• When the world descended on Sydney last month it was with trepidation.• Outside it slowly got darker, a gloomypurpledescending on the car as it stood in the empty lot.• Almost immediately, a heatwave descends on the rest of Britain.• He must bearprimaryresponsibility for the chaos that descended upon the White House when such disclosure did occur.• In this way, the children became spread out instead of all clustering together with the coinsdescending on them like hailstones.• In those times, a poet could descend on you with all his retinue and eat you out of house and home.
6descend to somethingphrasal verbphr vBEHAVEto behave or speak in an unpleasant way, which is not the way you usually behave 自降身份到…,下作到…SYN stoop to
Surely he wouldn’t descend to such a mean trick?
想必他不会无耻到使用这种卑劣的诡计吧?
descend to somebody’s level (=behave or speak as badly as someone else) 降低到某人的层次
Other people may gossip, but don’t descend to their level.
别人可能会说闲话,别跟他们学。
Examples from the Corpus
descend to somebody’s level• But soon after that he descended to an unreachable level.• However, it is important that we do not descend to their level.• If I use violence I descend to his level.• Otherwise nothing useful will be achieved and, instead of debate, we shall descend to the level of vulgarslangingmatches.• Flying over Normandy he descended to ground level to escape the fog and to find his bearings.
Examples from the Corpus
descend• The plane started to descend.• On shakinglegs he began to descend.• Having finished, she descends a little way down the twig and then lays another batch.• The cavedescends almost vertically through a maze of boulders from a collapsedroof and is extremely wet and muddy.• The reflex action at this point is to descend into cynicism.• We descended into the cave by a ropeladder.• A Darkfall storm had descended on a factory in Leeds four years earlier.• When Stafford saw Cantor move slowly toward the right, he descended on the opposite side.• Slowly the two climbersdescended the cliff face.• Several climbers were descending the mountain.• This circuitousapproach gives jets lots of time to descend to the airport.• As you descend, you will slowly begin to feel the mystery and dankness of Carlsbad.
descend on/upon/over• Long before night fell, seriousparadelovers were descending on downtown to get a good seat.• Placed in charge, Taylor had written to vendors, requesting catalogs and price lists, and now they descended upon him.• Jesse Jackson descended upon Hollywood to protest the almost totalabsence of black and minoritynominees.• As a result, a heavy dose of reality has descended on the Buchanan campaign.• Investigatorsdescend on the crimescenehunting for clues.• This they had done when they descended on the genteel town of Winchelsea.• Almost immediately, a heatwave descends on the rest of Britain.• In this way, the children became spread out instead of all clustering together with the coinsdescending on them like hailstones.
Origindescend
(1300-1400)Old Frenchdescendre, from Latinscandere“to climb”