Middle English Dictionary Entry
ascenden v.
Entry Info
Forms | ascenden v. Also assenden. |
Etymology | L & OF |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) To move or proceed upward; ascend, climb, mount, soar; ~ up(ward); board (a ship); light (upon sb.); (b) to ascend (a hill); rise to (the heavens); also, lift up, raise [quot. a1450]; ~ court, come to (court); (c) to mount (the female) for copulation.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1384) WBible(1) (Dc 369(2))2 Mac.2.4 : The hill in whiche Moyses ascendide.
- c1400 MPPsalter (Dub 69)77.34 : Ascendid [Add: þe ire of God steʒe vp hem].
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)1.1384 : Þe kyng..Ascendid is in-to his royal se.
- a1450(?c1421) Lydg.ST (Arun 119)834 : Philolegye Ascendid vp hegh abou the skye To be weddid..Vnto..þe god mercurius.
- a1425(a1400) Paul.Epist.(Corp-C 32)Rom.10.6 : To denye crist for to haue ascendid.
- ?a1425 Mandev.(2) (Eg 1982)91/12 : Als mykill as a man ascendes vpward oute of oure cuntreez to Ierusalem [etc.].
- c1450(1410) Walton Boeth.(Lin-C 103)p.17 : Like a laddire..Wheron men myght alwey fro gre to gre..vpward evire ascende.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)10104 : An Ampte..To nouht elles doth entende, But on thys hyl vp tascende.
- a1500(1413) *Pilgr.Soul (Eg 615)3.1.48a : I wold be incarnat..upon a piler..and so ascende and descende contynually to the day of dome.
- a1500(?a1450) GRom.(Hrl 7333)46 : He ascendid in to Ship.
- a1500 Nightingale (Corp-O 203)1/4 : The swan..Assendyth in-to the top of the tre and syngeth In hora matutina A lame[n]table note.
b
- a1450 Yk.Pl.(Add 35290)479/189 : Body and sawle, we schall hir [Mary] assende To regne in þis regally.
- (a1460) Vegetius(2) (Pmb-C 243)3 : Hail, halyday deuout!..wheryn Dauid the Confessour Commaunded is, his kyngis court ascende.
- ?a1475 Ludus C.(Vsp D.8)354/21 : There he assendid alle hevenys, god in his manhed.
- a1500 Lydg.LOL (Adv 19.3.1)103 : Wherefor of sort the hyll thei ben ascendyd.
c
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)8.61 : Now shal the bole his wyuys to hym take..xv of hem oon male is forto ascende.
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)8.103 : A coitu twey monthis summen keepe Her raam..And summen let hem al the yeer ascende.
2.
(a) To rise in fortune or moral excellence; (b) to experience elation.
Associated quotations
a
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)2.2021 : As Fortune..List on hir whele make a man ascende, And vnwarly doun ageyn descende.
- c1450 My ladyes (Frf 16)17 : Whom that her lykyth, makyth she [Fortune] ascende, And him as swithe ouerthroyth also.
- a1500(1445) ?Lydg.Marg.Entry (Hrl 3869)140 : From vertu to vertu men shall vp ascende.
b
- (1435) Misyn FL (Corp-O 236)8/11 : Men contemplatyue..with ioy to criste in mynde..alway ascend in voyce of loueynge.
3.
(a) To rise, be borne upward, well up; ~ up; (b) extend upward; (c) work up.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)7.135 : Canute..comaundynge þe see þat it schulde nouʒt ascende [L ascenderet] uppon his londe.
- a1425(a1382) WBible(1) (Corp-O 4)Gen.2.6 : A welle ascendide fro the erthe, watering al the ouermost of the erthe.
- ?a1425 Mandev.(2) (Eg 1982)101/23 : Þai late þe smoke of þam ascend vp [Tit: gon vp; F monter] towardes þe ydoles.
- ?a1475 Ludus C.(Vsp D.8)358/81 : My suete moderis preyere on to me doth assende.
- a1500(?c1425) Spec.Sacer.(Add 36791)12/28 : The erthe..ascendeþ as doþ a boylynge thynge.
b
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)147/9 : Veynes comynge fro þe lyuere, þe whiche þat ascenden into þe heed.
c
- a1500 Henley Husb.(Sln 686)49 : Ye shall knowe þat marle lastithe lengere þen dunge, for dung wastithe & discendithe, & marle mountithe & ascendithe.
4.
Astron. (a) To rise above the horizon; (b) move (toward the zenith).
Associated quotations
a
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.NP.(Manly-Rickert)B.4047 : By nature he knew ech ascensioun..For whan degrees fiftene were ascended, Thanne krew he that it myghte nat ben amended.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Pars.(Manly-Rickert)I.11 : Libra alwey gan ascende, As we were entryng at a thropes ende.
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.Sq.(Manly-Rickert)F.264 : And yet ascendyng was the beest roial, The gentil leon.
- c1460(a1449) Lydg.Letab.(Hrl 2255)138 : Afftir Aurora..Tytan ascendyng out of the Oryent.
- a1450(1391) Chaucer Astr.(Benson-Robinson)2.3.63 : Tho lokid I doun upon myn est orisounte, and fond there 10 degrees of Scorpius ascendyng, whom I tok for myn ascendent.
- a1450(1391) Chaucer Astr.(Benson-Robinson)2.40.80 : The body of Jupiter in his latitude of 2 degres meridional ascendid, with 8 degres of Piscis in horoscopo.
b
- ?a1450(1422) Lydg.SD (McC 182)55/9 : Phebus þe sonne..arisith in þe Oryent and bi successife cours assendith into þe hieste poynt of þe mydday spere.
- c1450(?c1400) 3 KCol.(1) (Cmb Ee.4.32)34/1 : Þe same sterre beganne to arise..and..hit ascendid aboue þe hill.
5.
Physiol. Of 'humors': rise or go (to the head); of sap: rise.
Associated quotations
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)73/18 : Wiyn..assendiþ soone into þe heed.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)1.2605 : Ver hath made oute of þe rote þe humydyte kyndely tascende.
- a1475 Bk.Quint.(Sln 73)17/24 : Þat humour of blak coler..if it..a-sende vp to þe heed, it troubliþ alle þe myʒtis of þe brayn.
- a1475 Bk.Quint.(Sln 73)22/16 : Brennynge watir ascendiþ to þe heed, and gladly wole a man drynke.
6.
Alch. To rise as vapor, vaporize.
Associated quotations
- a1475 Bk.Quint.(Sln 73)4/13,15,22 : Þat þing þat by vertues of fier ascendith and distillith wiþinne þe vessel..eftsoones ascendith & eft descendiþ..Þat þing þat is twies sublymed is more glorified..þan whanne it ascendith but oonys.
- a1475 Bk.Quint.(Sln 73)10/25 : Putte it þanne in a distillatorie, and first þe vynegre wole ascende.
- a1475 Bk.Quint.(Sln 73)12/30 : Þe watir schal ascende in foorme of oyle schynynge as gold.
7.
Of a melody: to rise in the scale.
Associated quotations
- a1450 Treat.Music (Lnsd 763)263/10 : Whan þe plain-song ascendit, þe cou[n]ter may..descende dounward.
8.
To increase in amount.
Associated quotations
- (1435) RParl.4.486b : Possessions..assendyng fro the seid c s. unto the yerely value of an c li.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- a1500?Scrope Ribot First Monks (Lamb 192)92/25 : Carmel ys meche for to vndyrstondyn as 'the scyence of cyrcumsycion'. To the whiche scyence he ascendyd [L ascendit].
- a1500?Scrope Ribot First Monks (Lamb 192)92/33 : Ther was no man that ascendyd [L ascendit] to thys scyence of cyrcumcsyon vnto the tyme that Helye and hyse chyld, that ys to sey the company of the sonys of prophettys.
Note: ?New sense: 'accepted, assented to'
Note: Appears as part of an extended metaphor: ascending Mount Carmel = ascending 'the science of circumcision'.