Descendants

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  descendants \descendants\ n.
     all of the offspring of a given progenitor.
  
     Syn: posterity.
          [WordNet 1.5]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  descendants
       n : all of the offspring of a given progenitor; "we must secure
           the benefits of freedom for ourselves and our posterity"
           [syn: {posterity}]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DESCENDANTS. Those who have issued from an individual, and include his 
  children, grandchildren, and their children to the remotest degree. Ambl. 
  327 2 Bro. C. C. 30; Id. 230 3 Bro. C. C. 367; 1 Rop. Leg. 115; 2 Bouv. n. 
  1956. 
       2. The descendants form what is called the direct descending line. Vide 
  Line. The term is opposed to that of ascendants. (q.v.) 
       3. There is a difference between the number of ascendants and 
  descendants which a man may have every one his the same order of ascendants, 
  though they may not be exactly alike as to numbers, because some may be 
  descended from a common ancestor. In the line of descendants they fork 
  differently, according to the number of children and continue longer or 
  shorter as generations continue or cease to exist. Many families become 
  extinct, while others continue; the line of descendants is therefore 
  diversified in each family.