down

Adverb

down (not generally comparable, comparative farther down, superlative farthest down)

1. (comparable) From a higher position to a lower one; downwards.

   The cat jumped down from the table.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.

   • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 48:

     To her humiliation Jessamy found there were tears trickling down her cheeks.

   • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 122:

     Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:down.
2. (comparable) At a lower and/or further along or away place or position along a set path.

   His place is farther down the road.

   The company was well down the path to bankruptcy.

   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., OCLC 580270828, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

3. South (as south is at the bottom of typical maps).

   I went down to Miami for a conference.

4. (Ireland) Away from the city (even if the location is to the North).

   He went down to Cavan.

   down on the farm

   down country

5. (sports) Towards the opponent's side (in ball-sports).
   • 2015 May 25, “Frustrated Prince Harry howls as he misses open goal”, in Daily Telegraph‎:

     The charity match, played Sunday afternoon at Cirencester Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire, reached a dramatic climax when Prince Harry tore down the pitch but failed to score what was described as an “open goal”.

   • 2005 September 1, “LBW explained”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     By moving further down the pitch, the batsman lengthens the distance between the ball and the stumps.

6. Into a state of non-operation.

   The computer has been shut down.

   They closed the shop down.

7. To a subordinate or less prestigious position or rank.

   Smith was sent down to the minors to work on his batting.

   After the incident, Kelly went down to Second Lieutenant.

8. (rail transport) In the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero.
9. (sentence substitute, imperative) Get down.

   Down, boy! (such as to direct a dog to stand on four legs from two, or to sit from standing on four legs.)

10. (Britain, academia) Away from Oxford or Cambridge.

    He's gone back down to Newcastle for Christmas.

11. From a remoter or higher antiquity.
    • 1825 June 17, Daniel Webster, An address delivered at the laying of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument, Boston: Cummings, Hilliard, and Co., OCLC 228718257, page 12:

      Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation.

12. From a greater to a less bulk, or from a thinner to a thicker consistence.
    • 1788, Mary Cole, cook, The Lady's Complete Guide; or, Cookery in all its Branches, London: G. Kearsley, OCLC 6545073, page 92:

      ſtew it gently till quite tender, then take it up and boil down the gravy in the pan to a quart

13. From less to greater detail.
    • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

      Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.

14. (intensifier) Used with verbs to add emphasis to the action of the verb.

    They tamped (down) the asphalt to get a better bond.

15. Used with verbs to indicate that the action of the verb was carried to some state of completion, rather than being of indefinite duration.

    He boiled the mixture./He boiled down the mixture.

    He sat waiting./He sat down and waited.

Preposition

down

1. From the higher end to the lower of.

   The ball rolled down the hill.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.

2. From one end to another of.

   The bus went down the street.

   They walked down the beach holding hands.

Adjective

down (comparative more down, superlative most down)

1. (informal) sad, unhappy, Depressed, feeling low.
   • 2014 March 30, William Yardley, quoting Eddie Lawrence, “Eddie Lawrence Dies at 95; Comedy's ‘Old Philosopher’”, in New York Times‎, Arts:

     You say you opened up a bicycle wash and the first six customers drowned [...] Is that what’s got you down, pussy cat?

2. Sick or ill.

   He is down with the flu.

3. At a lower level than before.

   The stock market is down.

   Prices are down.

4. Having a lower score than an opponent.

   They are down by 3-0 with just 5 minutes to play.

   He was down by a bishop and a pawn after 15 moves.

   At 5-1 down, she produced a great comeback to win the set on a tiebreak.

5. (baseball, colloquial, following the noun modified) Out.

   Two down and one to go in the bottom of the ninth.

6. (colloquial) With "on", negative about, hostile to

   Ever since Nixon, I've been down on Republicans.

7. (not comparable, Canada, US, slang) Comfortable with, accepting of.

   He's chill enough; he'd probably be totally down with it.

   Are you down to hang out at the mall, Jamal?

   As long as you're down with helping me pick a phone, Tyrone.

8. (not comparable) Inoperable; out of order; out of service.

   The system is down.

9. Finished (of a task); defeated or dealt with (of an opponent or obstacle); elapsed (of time). Often coupled with to go (remaining).

   Two down and three to go. (Two tasks completed and three more still to be done.)

   Ten minutes down and nothing's happened yet.

10. (not comparable, military, law enforcement, slang, of a person) Wounded and unable to move normally; killed.

    We have an officer down outside the suspect's house.

    There are three soldiers down and one walking wounded.

11. (not comparable, military, aviation, slang, of an aircraft) Mechanically failed, collided, shot down, or otherwise suddenly unable to fly.

    We have a chopper down near the river.

12. Thoroughly practiced, learned or memorised; mastered. (Compare down pat.)

    It's two weeks until opening night and our lines are still not down yet.

    • 2013, P.J. Hoover, Solstice, →ISBN, page 355:

      I stay with Chloe the longest. When she's not hanging out at the beach parties, she lives in a Japanese garden complete with an arched bridge spanning a pond filled with koi of varying sizes and shapes. Reeds shoot out of the water, rustling when the fish swim through them, and river-washed stones are sprinkled in a bed of sand. Chloe has this whole new Japanese thing down.

13. (obsolete) Downright; absolute; positive.
    • 1764, Jonathan Mayhew, A Defence of the Observations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, London: W. Nicoll, OCLC 940171697, page 84:

      This, he muſt give me leave to tell him, is an abſolute, right down—falſehood.

Verb

down (third-person singular simple present downs, present participle downing, simple past and past participle downed)

1. (transitive) To drink or swallow, especially without stopping before the vessel containing the liquid is empty.

   He downed an ale and ordered another.

2. (transitive) To cause to come down; to knock down or subdue.

   The storm downed several old trees along the highway.

   • 1725, Philip Sidney, The works of the Honourable Sir Philip Sidney, kt., in prose and verse, London: W. Innys, OCLC 18146617, page 156:

     To down proud hearts that would not willing die.

   • 1842, Fanny Burney, Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay, London: Colburn, OCLC 310706640, page 138:

     I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the wits, once at our house, when they talked of ghosts!

3. (transitive, pocket billiards) To put a ball in a pocket; to pot a ball.

   He downed two balls on the break.

4. (transitive, American football) To bring a play to an end by touching the ball to the ground or while it is on the ground.

   He downed it at the seven-yard line.

5. (transitive) To write off; to make fun of.
6. (obsolete, intransitive) To go down; to descend.
   • 1933, Arthur Bryant, quoting Samuel Pepys (1664, February 2nd), Samuel Pepys: The Man in the Making, New York: Macmillan, OCLC 247768037, page 215:

     ...that is, that the trade of the world is too little for us two, therefore one must down.

Noun

down (plural downs)

1. A negative aspect; a downer.

   I love almost everything about my job. The only down is that I can't take Saturdays off.

2. (dated) A grudge (on someone).
   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, page 10:

     She had a down on me. I don't know what for, I'm sure; because I never said a word.

3. An act of swallowing an entire drink at once.
4. (American football) A single play, from the time the ball is snapped (the start) to the time the whistle is blown (the end) when the ball is down, or is downed.

   I bet after the third down, the kicker will replace the quarterback on the field.

5. (crosswords) A clue whose solution runs vertically in the grid.

   I haven't solved 12 or 13 across, but I've got most of the downs.

6. A downstairs room of a two-story house.

   She lives in a two-up two-down.

7. Down payment.

Derived terms

References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Etymology 2

From Middle English doun, from Old English dūn, from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz, *dūnǭ (“sandhill, dune”), probably borrowed from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“hill; hillfort”) (compare Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“hill, fort”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”). Cognate with West Frisian dún (“dune, sandhill”), Dutch duin (“dune, sandhill”), German Düne (“dune”). More at town; akin to dune.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse dúnn. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Duune (“fluff, down”), German Daune (“down”) and Danish dun (“down”).

Anagrams

• nowd

Dutch

German

Welsh