a. and sb. 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 sb. 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.
1597. Greene, Maidens Dr., liv. As thus ascendant fair Astræa flew.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., 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. 3. 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. sb. [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). Ibid. (c. 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. Drumm. of Hawth., 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. Chesterf., 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.)
1690. Sir W. Temple, Misc., II. Ess. Anc. & Mod. Learn. 15 (J.). The Learning and Sciences that were there, in their highest Ascendent.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, IV. v. 129. The hopes of the Conservative party were again in the ascendant.
1869. Seeley, Lect. & Ess., iv. 111. When … demure conventionalism and sentimentalism are in the ascendant.
4. One who favors 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. 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.
