down

Etymology 1

table From Middle English doun, from Old English dūne, aphetic form of adūne, from ofdūne (“off the hill”). For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“(in/to the) valley”), i.e. "down(wards)".

adv

(comparable) From a higher position to a lower one; downwards.
The cat jumped down from the table.

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

To her humiliation Jessamy found there were tears trickling down her cheeks. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, year_published edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, page 48

Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, page 122
(comparable) At a lower or further place or position along a set path.
His place is farther down the road.

The company was well down the path to bankruptcy.
As a down payment.
You can have it, no money down.
On paper (or in a durable record).
You need to write down what happened while it's still fresh in your mind.
To the south (as south is at the bottom of typical maps).
I went down to Miami for a conference.
Away from the city (regardless of direction).
He went down to Cavan.

down on the farm

down country

1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt et al., p. 12, But then my Servant who I had intended to take down with me [i.e. from London to Bedfordshire], deceiv’d me;
At or towards any place that is visualised as 'down' by virtue of local features or local convention, or arbitrarily, irrespective of direction or elevation change.
She lives down by the park.
(sports) Towards the opponent's side (in ball-sports).
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”. 25 May 2015, “Frustrated Prince Harry howls as he misses open goal”, in Daily Telegraph

By moving further down the pitch, the batsman lengthens the distance between the ball and the stumps. Sept 2005, “LBW explained”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
Into a state of non-operation.
The computer has been shut down.

They closed the shop down.
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.
(rail transport) In the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero.
(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.)
(UK, academia, dated) Away from Oxford or Cambridge.
He's gone back down to Newcastle for Christmas.
From a remoter or higher antiquity.
These traditions have been handed down over generations.

Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation. June 17, 1825, Daniel Webster, An address delivered at the laying of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument, Boston: Cummings, Hilliard, and Co., →OCLC, page 12
So as to lessen quantity, level or intensity.
You need to tone down the rhetoric.

Please turn the music down!
So as to reduce size, weight or volume.
Trim the stick down to a length of about twelve inches.

Thanks to my strict diet, I've slimmed down to eleven stone.

Boil the mixture down to a syrupy consistency.

ſtew it gently till quite tender, then take it up and boil down the gravy in the pan to a quart 1788, Mary Cole (cook), The Lady's Complete Guide; or, Cookery in all its Branches, London: G. Kearsley, →OCLC, page 92
From less to greater detail.
This spreadsheet lets you drill down to daily or even hourly sales figures.

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. 2013-08-03, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
So as to secure or compress something to the floor, ground, or other (usually horizontal) surface.
We need to nail down this carpet so people don't keep tripping over it.
Used with verbs to indicate that the action of the verb was carried to some state of completion, permanence, or success rather than being of indefinite duration.
He closed operations. / He closed down operations.

He chased answers. / He chased down answers.
Forward, straight ahead.
At the first intersection turn left and walk down, then turn right.

prep

From the higher end to the lower of.
The ball rolled down the hill.
From north to south of.
We sailed down the eastern seaboard.
From one end to another of (in any direction); along.
The bus went down the street.

They walked down the beach holding hands.
(colloquial) At (a given place that is seen as removed from one's present location or other point of reference).
I'll see you later down the pub.

adj

Facing downwards.
Turn the cloth over so that the patterned side is down.

You win a dollar if the down side of the card is different than the up side; otherwise, you lose a dollar. 1993, Finite Mathematics: Overrun Edition, Calvert, page 251

Define the event F as the event that the down face of the die is 1 or 4. 2004, Robert M. Gray, Lee D. Davisson, An Introduction to Statistical Signal Processing, page 170

Each time the 10 cards are reshuffled, your task is to predict the letter on the down side of the top card. 2016, Keith E. Stanovich, Richard F. West, Maggie E. Toplak, The Rationality Quotient: Toward a Test of Rational Thinking, page 332
At a lower level than before.
The stock market is down.

Prices are down.
(informal) Sad, unhappy, depressed, feeling low.
Mary seems very down since she split up with her boyfriend.

We get down, down, down / We feel sorry for ourselves / We get down, down, down / We all need somebody's help 2011, Rachel Platten (lyrics and music), “Overwhelmed”, in Be Here

You say you opened up a bicycle wash and the first six customers drowned … Is that what’s got you down, pussy cat? March 30, 2014, William Yardley, quoting Eddie Lawrence, “Eddie Lawrence Dies at 95; Comedy's ‘Old Philosopher’”, in New York Times, Arts
Sick, wounded, or damaged:
1. (normally in the combination 'down with') Sick or ill.
  He is down with the flu.
2. (not comparable, military, law enforcement, slang, of a person) Wounded and unable to move normally, or killed.
  We have an officer down outside the suspect's house.
  
  There are three soldiers down and one walking wounded.
3. (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.
4. (not comparable) Inoperable; out of order; out of service.
  The system is down.
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.
(baseball, cricket, colloquial, following the noun modified) Out.
Two down and one to go in the bottom of the ninth.
(colloquial, with "on") Negative about; hostile to.
Ever since Carter, I've been down on Democrats.
(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.

Then again, with your name being Juanita Perez, I wasn't sure if you were more down with the Latinos or something. 2001, Omar Tyree, For the Love of Money, page 121

He said Lunceford's band was smoother and had more musical variety and great show-band novelties, but that there was something about the way we did our things that made us sound more down with it. 2002, Count Basie, Albert Murray, Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography Of Count Basie, page 194

And we could then feel more "down" with more unconscious guilt. 2007, David W. Shave, Small Talk--big Cure!: Talking Your Way to a Better Life, page 58

I thought, Oh, Sarah must be one of these super gentle, herbal-tea-drinking, crystal-having kind of people. And she was just super down. She belched like a sailor. September 30, 2019, Jessica Hopper, Sasha Geffen, Jenn Pelly, “Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair”, in Vanity Fair
(African-American Vernacular, slang) Accepted, respected, or loyally participating in the (thug) community.
my homies is down so don't arouse my anger 1994, “Gangsta's Paradise”, Coolio (lyrics)

Nigga you ain't down. You heard what Nate said. If you ain't down for the dead homie you sure ain't down for us. 1995, Colors - Volume 4, page 28

Cause you're a whiteboy, you know, an' if you get locked up you gotta be down for the Aryans and the Surenos, you know? You gotta be down. 2009, Mike Flax, L.A. Unified, page 129

What you mean, 'No'? Man, I thought you was down.
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.

Ten minutes down and nothing's happened yet.
Thoroughly practiced, learned or memorised; mastered. (Compare down pat.)
It's two weeks until opening night and our lines are still not down yet.

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. 2013, P.J. Hoover, Solstice, page 355
(obsolete) Downright; absolute; positive.
This, he muſt give me leave to tell him, is an abſolute, right down—falſehood. 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, page 84
(of a tree, limb, etc) Fallen or felled.
Left again at 1.05 p.m., and for two miles it was over rolling county with easy grades, but a good deal of down timber. 1897, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Report of the Commissioner ..., page 72

The mere fact that there are quantities of trees near by with "loads” of down wood, does not signify that it is desirable camp fuel. 1920, Boys and Girls Bookshelf: A Practical Plan of Character Building ..., page 309

Will you please let me get two loads of down wood. 1935 (printed in 2009), Powell, Shenandoah Letters, 54

The average weight of down logs in seven old-growth stands, from 250 to over 900 years old, was 53 tons per acre (118 tonnes/ha); the range was 38 to 70 tons per acre (85 to 156 tonnes/ha). The largest accumulation of down wood recorded for a stand thus far is in the Carbon River Valley […] 1981, Ecological Characteristics of Old-growth Douglas-fir Forests, page 31

verb

(transitive) To knock (someone or something) down; to cause to come down; to fell.
The storm downed several old trees along the highway.

A single rifle shot downed the mighty beast.
1. (transitive) Specifically, to cause (something in the air) to fall to the ground; to bring down (with a missile etc.).
  The helicopter was downed by a surface-to-air missile.
(transitive) To lower; to put (something) down.
The bell rang for lunch, and the workers downed their tools.
(transitive, figurative) To defeat; to overpower.
To down proud hearts that would not willing die. 1725, Philip Sidney, The works of the Honourable Sir Philip Sidney, kt., in prose and verse, London: W. Innys, →OCLC, page 156
(transitive, colloquial) To disparage; to put down.
‘I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the Wits, once at our House, – when they talked of Ghosts.’ 1779, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 141
(intransitive, rare or obsolete) To go or come down; to descend.
...that is, that the trade of the world is too little for us two, therefore one must down. 1933, Arthur Bryant, quoting Samuel Pepys (1664, February 2nd), Samuel Pepys: The Man in the Making, New York: Macmillan, →OCLC, page 215
(transitive, colloquial) To drink or swallow, especially without stopping before the vessel containing the liquid is empty.
He downed an ale and ordered another.

After watching people downing drink on the train, I am in need of slaking my own thirst, so I pop into the station's Centurion Bar. November 30 2022, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75
(transitive, American football, Canadian football) To render (the ball) dead, typically by touching the ground while in possession.
He downed it at the seven-yard line.
(transitive, golf, pocket billiards) To sink (a ball) into a hole or pocket.
He downed two balls on the break.

noun

A negative aspect; a downer, a downside.
I love almost everything about my job. The only down is that I can't take Saturdays off.
(dated) A grudge (on someone).
She had a down on me. I don't know what for, I'm sure; because I never said a word. 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 10
An act of swallowing an entire drink at once.
(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.
(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.
A downstairs room of a two-story house.
She lives in a two-up two-down.
Down payment.
The lightest quark with a charge number of −¹⁄₃.

Etymology 2

From Middle English doune, 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. Doublet of Down.

noun

(especially southern England) A hill, especially a chalk hill; rolling grassland
We went for a walk over the downs.

The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England.

...as they muſt needs acknowledge who have been on the Downs of Suſſex, and enjoyed that ravishing Proſpect of the Sea on one Hand, and the Country far and wide on the other. 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, London: Pr. for S. Smith, →OCLC

She went by dale, and she went by down, With a single rose in her hair. 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Lady Clare”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, →OCLC, page 198

The amateur nature-lover proceeds over the down, appreciating all this as hard as he can appreciate, and anon gazing up at the grey and white cloud shapes melting slowly from this form to that, and showing lakes, and wide expanses, and serene distances of blue between their gaps. 1898, H. G. Wells, Certain Personal Matters: A Collection of Material, Mainly Autobiographical, Lawrence & Bullen, →OCLC, page 256
(usually in the plural) A field, especially one used for horse racing.
(UK, chiefly in the plural) A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep.
Seven thousand broad-taild Sheepe gras'd on his Downes; 1636, George Sandys, “A Paraphrase Vpon Iob”, in Early English Books

Etymology 3

From Middle English doun, from Old Norse dúnn, from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (“down”), which is related to *dauniz (“(pleasant) smell”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰowh₂-nis, from the root *dʰewh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Duune (“fluff, down”), German Daune (“down”) and Danish dun (“down”).

noun

Soft, fluffy immature feathers which grow on young birds. Used as insulating material in duvets, sleeping bags and jackets.
(botany) The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, such as the thistle.
Down or Cotton-Thiſtle. This hath many large Leaves lying on the Ground, ſomewhat cut in, and as it were crumpled on the Edges, of a green Colour on the upper ſide, but covered with long hairy Wool or Cottony Down, ſet with moſt ſharp and cruel pricks 1718, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, London: W. Churchill, →OCLC, page 120

No candle should light it, neither should any flower adorn it, save for several dried stalks of old and withered thistles, their heads pale with silken down, held in a common glass jar. 1998, Valerie Worth, The Crone's Book of Charms and Spells, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, page 152
The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear.
But love him as he was, when youthful Grace, 1717, John Dryden, The Dramatick Works of John Dryden, Esq., volume the fourth, London: Jacob Tonson, →OCLC, page 136
That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down.
Thou boſom Softneſs! Down of all my Cares! I cou'd recline my thoughts upon this Breaſt To a forgetfulneſs of all my Griefs, And yet be happy: but it wonnot be. 1696, Tho[mas] Southerne, Oroonoko: A Tragedy[…], London: […] H[enry] Playford[…]; B[enjamin] Tooke[…]; [a]nd S. Buckley[…], →OCLC, act V, scene the last [iv], pages 76–77

verb

(transitive) To cover, ornament, line, or stuff with down.
What pain to quit the world, just made their own, Their nest so deeply downed, and built so high ! 1742, Edward Young, The Complaint: or, Night-thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: R. Dodsley, →OCLC, page 264

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