ascension, ascencioun, assentioun

(In Fr. & Sp. ascension; Port. ascensao; Ital, as cens i one; Lat. ascensio, from ascensum, sup. of ascendo.] [ASCEND.] A. Ordinary Language: I. The act of ascending ( lit. or fig . ). 1. In a general sense: "By nature he knew eche ascentioun." Chaucer: C. Т., 14,861. "Ne eek oure spirites ascencioun."-Ibid, 12,706. 2. Spec. It is applied to the ascent of our Saviour from the earth, in view of his disciples, some time after his resurrection. "The traditional scene of the Ascension is one of the four summits of the Mount of Olives,."-Cook: Holy Bible with Comment., vol. 1. (1878), p. 471. + II. That which ascends. "Men err in the theory of inebriation, conceiving the brain doth only suffer from vaporous ascensions from the stomach."-Browne: Vulgar Errours. III. The distance by which anything ascends. [B. Astron .] B. Technically : Astron. Right ascension: The distance of a heavenly body from the first point of Aries, measured upon the equator. ( Hind .) The arc of the equinoctial included between a certain point in that circle, called the Vernal Equinox, and the point in the same circle to which it is referred by the circle of declination pa ing through it. Or the angle included between two hour-circles, one of which, called the equinoctial colure , pa es through the vernal equinox, and the other through the body. (Herschel: Astron., §§ 108, 293.) It is opposed to oblique ascension (q.v.). The terms right ascension and declination are now generally used to point out the position in the heavens of any celestial object, in preference to the old method of indicating certain prominent stars by proper names or by Greek letters. By means of the transit instrument, or by an equatorially-mounted telescope, a star or planet may be readily found, when once its right ascension and declination are known. [EQUATORIAL TELESCOPE, TRANSIT INSTRUMENT.] + Oblique ascension: The arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and the point of the equator which rises with a star or other heavenly body, reckoned according to the order of the signs. Ascension-day, s. The day on which Cour Saviour's ascension is commemorated the Thursday but one before Whit sun tide, sometimes called Holy Thursday. It is one of the six leading festivals for which services are a igned in the Liturgy. IMG:content-0786.png:[blocks in formation] Ascensional difference: The difference between the right and oblique ascensions. (Glo og. Nova, Hind , .) as-çěn'-sive, a. [Lat. ascens( us ), pa. par. of ascendo, and Eng. suffix -ive.] Ascending, on an ascending plan. the gradations of the Mammalian structure, of which we have now completed the ascensive survey." -Owen: Cla if. of the Mammal i a , p. 51.