down

I [[t]da͟ʊn[/t]] PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES

♦

(Down is often used with verbs of movement, such as `fall' and `pull', and also in phrasal verbs such as `bring down' and `calm down'.)

1) PREP To go down something such as a slope or a pipe means to go towards the ground or to a lower level.

We're going down a mountain...

A man came down the stairs to meet them...

The tears began flooding down her cheeks.

Ant:

up

ADV: ADV after v

Down is also an adverb.

She went down to the kitchen again... She sat on the window seat until they climbed down from the roof... I saw her push the boulder down on you... Any unauthorized war planes flying in the area are to be shot down.

2) PREP: amount PREP n If you are a particular distance down something, you are that distance below the top or surface of it.

He managed to cling on to a ledge 40ft down the rock face...

The union leader was last night staging a protest vigil 400 yards down a mineshaft.

ADV: amount ADV

Down is also an adverb.

For the last 18 months miners have cut a face to develop a new shaft 400 metres down.

3) ADV: ADV after v You use down to say that you are looking or facing in a direction that is towards the ground or towards a lower level.

She was still looking down at her papers...

She put her head down, her hands over her face...

He bent down and picked up a rock.

Ant:

up

4) ADV: ADV after v If you put something down, you put it onto a surface.

Danny put down his glass...

After two rings I put down the phone...

He laid his knife down.

5) PREP: oft amount PREP n If you go or look down something such as a road or river, you go or look along it. If you are down a road or river, you are somewhere along it.

They set off at a jog up one street and down another...

Karl looked down the street...

She lives a few miles down the road at Burnham.

...sailing down the river on a barge.

Ant:

up

6) ADV: ADV after v If you are travelling to a particular place, you can say that you are going down to that place, especially if you are going towards the south or to a lower level of land. [SPOKEN]

I went down to L.A. all the way from Seattle...

I have seen him walking down to the shops a mile or so away...

I'll take you back down to the valley.

...holidaymakers coming down here in the summer.

7) PREP: v-link PREP n, v PREP n If you are down a place, you are at that place. If you go down a place, you go to that place. Some people consider this to be non-standard. [BRIT, INFORMAL]

People are down the pub, getting drunk...

We got in the car and went down the supermarket and started buying food.

8) ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV to/from/by amount If an amount of something goes down, it decreases. If an amount of something is down, it has decreased and is at a lower level than it was.

Interest rates came down today...

Inflation will be down to three percent...

My weight went down to seventy pounds...

My department had a healthy interest in keeping expenses down...

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 5 points at 2,913.

...with hotel occupation down by around half.

Ant:

up

9) PHRASE: PHR with amount If you say that there are a number of things down and a number to go, you are saying how many of the things have already been dealt with and how many remain to be dealt with.

Thirteen months down, twenty-four years to go.

10) PHR-PREP Down to a particular detail means including everything, even that detail. Down to a particular person means including everyone, even that person.

I was a soldier down to my shoelaces.

...from the chairman right down to the tea ladies.

11) PHR-PREP: PREP amount If you are down to a certain amount of something, you have only that amount left.

The poor man's down to his last ₤3.

12) PHR-PREP If a situation is down to a particular person or thing, it has been caused by that person or thing. [mainly BRIT]

Any mistakes are entirely down to us...

That's down to pure hard work.

13) PHR-PREP If someone or something is down for a particular thing, it has been arranged that they will do that thing, or that thing will happen.

Mark had told me that he was down for an interview.

...derelict houses that were down for demolition.

14) PHR-PREP If you are down with an illness, you have that illness. [INFORMAL]

→ See also come down with

One of the office girls was down with the flu.

...a little girl down with that nasty bout of measles.

15) PHR-PREP If you pay money down on something, you pay part of the money you owe for it. [mainly AM]

→ See also put down

He had a simple, conventional deal and paid 20 percent down at settlement.

16) PHRASE: PHR n If people shout `down with' something or someone, they are saying that they dislike them and want to get rid of them. [SPOKEN]

Demonstrators chanted `down with the rebels'.

17) up and down → see up

ups and downs → see up

down in the dumps → see dump

II [[t]da͟ʊn[/t]] ADJECTIVE USES

1) ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ If you are feeling down, you are feeling unhappy or depressed. [INFORMAL]

I have been down since the injury happened...

Try to support each other when one of you is feeling down...

The old man sounded really down.

Syn:

depressed

2) ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ on n If something is down on paper, it has been written on the paper.

That date wasn't down on our news sheet.

3) ADJ: v-link ADJ If a piece of equipment, especially a computer system, is down, it is temporarily not working because of a fault. Compare up.

The computer's down again.

Ant:

operational

III [[t]da͟ʊn[/t]] VERB USES

downs, downing, downed

(Please look at category 3 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.)

1) VERB If you say that someone downs food or a drink, you mean that they eat or drink it.

[V n] We downed bottles of local wine.

Syn:

consume

2) VERB If something or someone is downed, they fall to the ground because they have been hurt or damaged in some way. [JOURNALISM]

[be V-ed] A couple of jet fighters were downed during the five-week rebellion...

[V n] A bank guard shot him in the leg and downed him.

Derived words:

downing N-UNCOUNT

...the downing of an airliner, which killed 107 people.

3) to down tools → see tool

IV [[t]da͟ʊn[/t]] NOUN USES

1) N-UNCOUNT Down consists of the small, soft feathers on young birds. Down is used to make bed-covers and pillows.

...goose down.

2) N-UNCOUNT Down is very fine hair.

→ See also downs

The whole plant is covered with fine down.