All 7 Uses of

descend

in

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

On each of the seven days of the week he further prayed that one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost might descend upon his soul and drive out of it day by day the seven deadly sins which had defiled it in the past; and he prayed for each gift on its appointed day, confident that it would descend upon him, though it seemed strange to him at times that wisdom and understanding and knowledge were so distinct in their nature that each should be prayed for apart from the others.
Chpt 4 *

descend = arrive

On each of the seven days of the week he further prayed that one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost might descend upon his soul and drive out of it day by day the seven deadly sins which had defiled it in the past; and he prayed for each gift on its appointed day, confident that it would descend upon him, though it seemed strange to him at times that wisdom and understanding and knowledge were so distinct in their nature that each should be prayed for apart from the others.
Chpt 4

As he descended the steps the impression which effaced his troubled self-communion was that of a mirthless mask reflecting a sunken day from the threshold of the college.†
Chpt 4

A gradual warmth, a languorous weariness passed over him descending along his spine from his closely cowled head.†
Chpt 5

—The Forster family, Temple said, is descended from Baldwin the First, king of Flanders.†
Chpt 5

—Is he descended from Baldwin too? asked a tall consumptive student with dark eyes.†
Chpt 5

Definitions:

(descend as in: thieves descended upon us)
to come or arrive -- especially suddenly or from above or as an attack