[f. ASCEND v. + -ER1.] He who or that which ascends.

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1623.  Bingham, Xenophon, 63. Another Hill … that the night before, was by the first ascenders won from the enemies Guards.

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1880.  R. Hope, in B. Googe’s Pop. Kingd., iv. 53, marg. Birds are eaten, on Ascension Day, as ascenders.

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  b.  spec. in Typogr. (see quot.)

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1867.  T. MacKellar, Amer. Printer, 48. Ascenders, all the capital letters, and the b, d, f, h, i, j, k, l, t, so called because they ascend to the top of the body of the types. A colloquial phrase for Ascending Letters.

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