ascendant, -ent, a. and n.
(əˈsɛndənt)
Also 4 ass-.
[a. OF. ascendant, ad. L. ascendent-em, pr. pple. of ascendĕre: see ascend and -ant. The astrological use is the earliest in Eng., and the n. was adopted before the adj.
In the spelling, -ant is the prevalent, and in senses B 3–8 almost the only form; but -ent was formerly prevalent in senses A, and B 1, 2.]
A. adj.
1. gen. Rising; moving or tending upwards.
| 1591 Greene Maidens Dr. liv, As thus ascendant fair Astræa flew. 1605 Bacon Adv. L. ii. vii. §1 A double scale or ladder, ascendent and descendent. 1829 Southey Yng. Dragon iv. Wks. VI. 279 Distended like a ball..The body mounts ascendant. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. I. xxvii. §15 Rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage. |
b. spec. in Phys. and Bot. = ascending ppl. a. 3.
| 1611 Cotgr., Artere sousclaviere, Th' ascendent branch of the great arterie. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Stalk, In the branched stalk, if the branches rise erect, it is expressed by ascendant. |
2. = ascending ppl. a. 5. ? Obs.
| c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 269 The Levitt. prohibition doth not exceed the second degree..in the line ascendent or descendent. |
3. Astr. a. in gen. sense: Rising towards the zenith. b. spec. in Astrol. Just above the eastern horizon: see B 1.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xi. 296 Ascendent are those [signs] that rise from the South towards our Zenith. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep, 227 The Starres of Andromeda..are about that time ascendent. 1735 Pope Mor. Ess. ii. 285 Ascendant Phœbus watch'd that hour with care. 1860 R. Vaughan Mystics II. viii. iv. 54 That of which ascendant Venus is the pure patroness—Rapturous Love. |
4. fig. Superior; predominant.
| ? 1634 M. Sandys Essays 150 (T.) Thus I pass from the descendent to the ascendent duty. 1806 A. Knox Rem. I. 31 To quicken, exalt, and make ascendant all that is rational and noble in us. 1850 Grote Greece ii. lv. VII. 53 An ascendent position in public life. |
B. n. [the adj. used absol.] I. In senses belonging to, or derived from, astrology.
1. Astrol. The point of the ecliptic, or degree of the zodiac, which at any moment (esp. e.g. at the birth of a child) is just rising above the eastern horizon; the horoscope. the house of the ascendant includes 5 degrees of the zodiac above this point and 25 below it. the lord of the ascendant: any planet within the house of the ascendant. (The ascendant and its lord were supposed to exercise a special influence upon the life of a child then born.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 613 Min ascendent was Taur, and Mars therinne (cf. Man of Lawes T. 204). 1391 ― Astrol. ii. §4 The assendent, & eke the lord of the assendent, may be shapen for to be fortunat or infortunat, as thus, a fortunat assendent clepen they whan þat no wykkid planete, as Saturne or Mars, or elles the tail of the dragoun, is in þe hows of the assendent. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxxiii. 533 They say that Jesus in his natiuitie, had for his ascendent, the signe of Virgo. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. 179 At my Nativity my Ascendant was the earthly sign of Scorpio. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 229 The most important part of the sky in the astrologer's consideration, was that sign of the Zodiac which rose at the moment of the child's birth; this was, properly speaking, the horoscope, the ascendant, or the first house. |
2. fig. (with distinct reference to astrological use.)
| 1654 Cokaine Loredano's Dianea Author's Ep., Covetous his Labours should visit the Light under such an Ascendant of Felicity. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 192 Here he was lord of the ascendant..the dominant genius. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 500 The star of Harold was fairly in the ascendant. |
3. gen. Superiority, supremacy; = ascendancy.
| 1596 Drayton Legends iv. 399 To my ascendant hasting then to clime. c 1630 Drummond of Hawthornden Wks. (1711) 46/1 Who in wit's ascendant far Did years and sex transcend. 1702 Eng. Theophr. 359 The ascendant is a certain unaccountable force of superiority that springs from the Nature, and not the artifice nor affectation of him that has it. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, III. viii. 114 That ascendant which he had acquired in all the councils of the commonwealth. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) I. iv. 67 A deterioration..which shook the ascendant of his better nature. |
b. Const. over (of, upon, obs.).
| 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 302 Having gained this Ascendent upon him. 1684 Luttrell Brief Rel. I. 316 Haveing gott the ascendant of him. 1752 Chesterfield Lett. 277 III. 269 Strong minds have undoubtedly an ascendant over weak ones. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 81 Giving their spiritual guides an entire ascendant over them. |
c. in the ascendant: supreme, dominant. (Sometimes erroneously: Rising, ascending.)
| a 1698 Temple (J.) Sciences that were then in their highest ascendant. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby iv. v. 129 The hopes of the Conservative party were again in the ascendant. 1869 Seeley Ess. & Lect. iv. 111 When..demure conventionalism and sentimentalism are in the ascendant. |
4. One who favours a policy of (national or ecclesiastical) ascendancy. ? Obs. rare.
| 1795 Burke 2nd Let. Langrishe Wks. IX. 416 There is not a single particular in the Francis-street declamations, which has not..been taught by the jealous ascendants. |
II. In general senses.
† 5. An upward slope, an acclivity, a rise; a flight of steps. Also fig. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VIII, an. 31 (R.), The ascendant of the hyll. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. i. §4 And climbe vp vnto God..by an Ascendent, consisting of fiue steppes. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. Wks. 1738 I. 53 A Lordly Ascendant..from Primate to Patriarch, and so to Pope. |
† 6. One who ascends or goes up. Obs.
| 1593 Nashe Christes Teares (1613) 31 Pryde can endure no Superiours, no equals, no ascendants. 1701 Sedley Tyr. Crete ii. i, That like the ascendants To the altar, by degrees, I thus approach you. |
† 7. That which rises above its surroundings; a summit or peak; spec. in Typogr. = ascender.
| 1650 Vaughan Silex Scint. 182 The mount whose white ascendents may Be in conjunction with true light. 1676 Moxon Print Lett. 6 All the Capitals are Ascendents, so called because they stand higher than the Head-line of the Short. |
8. One who precedes in genealogical succession; an ancestor; a relative in the ascending line, whether lineal, as father, mother, or collateral, as uncle, great-uncle.
| 1604 E. G. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xviii. 469 Such as committed incest with ascendants or descendants in direct line were likewise punished with death. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 32 Ascendants and Collaterals even to the tenth Degree. 1861 Maine Anc. Law v. (1876) 133 Their highest living ascendant, the father, grandfather, or great-grandfather. |