Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AS-CEND', v.i. [L. ascendo, from scando, to mount or climb; W. esgyn, to rise; cyn, first, chief. It has the same elements as begin.]

1. To move upwards; to mount; to go up; to rise, whether in air or water, or upon a material object.
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, &c.
3. To proceed from modern to ancient times; to recur to former ages; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity.
4. In a corresponding sense, to proceed in a line towards ancestors; as, to ascend to our first progenitors.
5. To rise as a star; to proceed or come above the horizon.
6. In music, to rise in vocal utterance; to pass from any note to one more acute.