From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
ascend
v 1: travel up, "We ascended the mountain"; "go up a ladder";
"The mountaineers slowly ascended the steep slope" [syn:
ascend, go up] [ant: come down, descend, fall,
go down]
2: go back in order of genealogical succession; "Inheritance may
not ascend linearly"
3: become king or queen; "She ascended to the throne after the
King's death"
4: appear to be moving upward, as by means of tendrils; "the
vine climbed up the side of the house" [syn: ascend, {climb
up}]
5: go along towards (a river's) source; "The boat ascended the
Delaware"
6: slope upwards; "The path ascended to the top of the hill"
7: come up, of celestial bodies; "The sun also rises"; "The sun
uprising sees the dusk night fled..."; "Jupiter ascends"
[syn: rise, come up, uprise, ascend] [ant: go down,
go under, set]
8: move to a better position in life or to a better job; "She
ascended from a life of poverty to one of great [syn:
ascend, move up, rise]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Ascend \As*cend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ascended; p. pr. & vb.
n. Ascending.] [L. ascendere; ad + scandere to climb,
mount. See Scan.]
1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to
descend.
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Higher yet that star ascends. --Bowring.
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I ascend unto my father and your father. --John xx.
17.
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Note: Formerly used with up.
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The smoke of it ascended up to heaven. --Addison.
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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, from modern to ancient
times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our
inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to
our first progenitor.
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Syn: To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Ascend \As*cend"\, v. t.
To go or move upward upon or along; to climb; to mount; to go
up the top of; as, to ascend a hill, a ladder, a tree, a
river, a throne.
[1913 Webster]