As·cend v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ascended; p. pr. & vb. n. Ascending.]
 1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to descend.
    Higher yet that star ascends.   --Bowring.
    I ascend unto my father and your father.   --John xx. 17.
 Note: Formerly used with up.
    The smoke of it ascended up to heaven.   --Addison.
 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.
 Syn: -- To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.