[a. F. versant (15th c. in Littré), f. verser: see VERSE v.2]
1. The slope, side or descent of a mountain or mountain-chain; the area or region covered by this. (Usu. with specifying epithet.)
1851. Catal. Gt. Exhib., IV. 1341/2. The species of oak which produces the cork vegetates … over the versants or faces of the Pyrenees.
1883. Encycl. Amer., I. 477/2. The best part of the United States for bee-farming is considered to be the Pacific versant.
1901. Q. Rev., July, 18. The conifer forests … which clothe the eastern versant of the Victoria Nyanza.
2. Tendency to slope or descend; declination.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 30. Thus the oriental half of the African continent has a compound versant, eastward with southing, and westward with southing.
