# down
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /daʊn/
* (Canada, dialectal) IPA: /dʌʊn/, [dəu̯n]
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aʊn

### Etymology 1

From Middle English doun, doune, from Old English dūne (“down”), aphetic form of adūne (“down, downward”), from earlier ofdūne (“down”, literally “off the hill”), from of (“of, off of”) + dūn (“hill, mount, dune, down”). More at Etymology 2 below. For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“down, downwards”, literally “(in/to the) dale/valley”), whence German Low German dal (“down”). Compare also Saterland Frisian deel (“down”, literally “to/into the dale”).

#### Adverb

down (not generally comparable, comparative farther down, superlative farthest down)
* (comparable) From a higher position to a lower one; downwards.
    The cat jumped down from the table.
** 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC: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, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, year_published edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 48:To her humiliation Jessamy found there were tears trickling down her cheeks.
** 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →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 quotations using this term, see Citations:down.
* To or towards what is considered the bottom of something, irrespective of whether this is presently physically lower.
    Go down to the bottom of the page.
    As I lay on my back, a pain shot down from my neck to my waist.
* (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.
** 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, 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.
* 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 to the 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.
    Coordinate term: over
    She lives down by the park.
* Forward, straight ahead.
    At the first intersection turn left and walk down, then turn right.
* (rail transport) In the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero.
* (UK, academia, dated) Away from Oxford or Cambridge.
    He's gone back down to Newcastle for Christmas.
* 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.
* (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, “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.
* 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.
** 1788, Mary Cole (cook), The Lady's Complete Guide; or, Cookery in all its Branches, London: G. Kearsley, →OCLC, page 92:ſtew it gently till quite tender, then take it up and boil down the gravy in the pan to a quart
** 1981 August 29, Nancy Wechsler, “Pornography and the Lawyers Guild”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 7, page 4:At that point I perhaps should have gone back through the interview and changed what I said — slightly re-worded it to better reflect my feelings about the two resolutions. But I did not think to do that. I was caught up in the crunch of trying to get it all ready for publication, and edit it down, not add more explanations to it.
* From less to greater detail.
    This spreadsheet lets you drill down to daily or even hourly sales figures.
** 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.
* From a remoter or higher antiquity.
    These traditions have been handed down over generations.
** 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, page 12:Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation.
* Into a state of non-operation.
    The computer has been shut down.
    They closed the shop down.
* 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.
* On paper (or in a durable record).
    You need to write down what happened while it's still fresh in your mind.
* As a down payment.
    We put £100 down on a new sofa.
    You can have it, no money down.
* (crosswords, in relation to a numbered clued word) In a downwards direction; vertically.
    I'm stuck on 11 down.
* 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.
* (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.)

##### Usage notes

* Down can be used with verbs in ways that change the meaning of the verb in ways not entirely predictable from the meanings of the down and the verb, though related to them. See Category:English phrasal verbs formed with "down".

##### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “from a higher position to a lower one”): up
* (antonym(s) of “at a lower place”): up
* (antonym(s) of “away from the city”): up
* (antonym(s) of “into a state of non-operation”): up
* (antonym(s) of “rail transport: direction leading away from the principal terminus”): up
* (antonym(s) of “in crosswords”): across
* (antonym(s) of “forward, straight ahead”): back; backwards; rearwards

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Preposition

down
* From the higher end to the lower of.
    The ball rolled down the hill.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC: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.
* From north to south of.
    We sailed down the eastern seaboard.
* Towards the mouth of (a river); in the direction of flow of.
    In this game we float sticks down the river.
* 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.

##### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “From the higher end to the lower”): up

##### Derived terms

* (from the higher end to the lower): like kicking dead whales down the beach, sell down the river, throw one's hotdog down someone's hallway

##### Translations
#### Adjective

down (comparative more down, superlative most down) (chiefly predicative, but see usage notes)
* Facing downwards.
    Turn the cloth over so that the patterned side is down.
** 1993, Finite Mathematics: Overrun Edition, Calvert, page 251:You win a dollar if the down side of the card is different than the up side; otherwise, you lose a dollar.
** 2004, Robert M. Gray, Lee D. Davisson, An Introduction to Statistical Signal Processing, page 170:Define the event F as the event that the down face of the die is 1 or 4.
** 2016, Keith E. Stanovich, Richard F. West, Maggie E. Toplak, The Rationality Quotient: Toward a Test of Rational Thinking, page 332:Each time the 10 cards are reshuffled, your task is to predict the letter on the down side of the top card.
* At a lower level than before.
    Antonym: up
    The stock market is down.
    Prices are down.
* (informal) Sad, unhappy, depressed, feeling low.
    Synonyms: miserable, sorrowful; see also Thesaurus:sad
    Antonym: up
    Mary seems very down since she split up with her boyfriend.
    Been down so long it seems like up to me
** 2011, Rachel Platten (lyrics and music), “Overwhelmed”, in Be Here‎:We get down, down, down / We feel sorry for ourselves / We get down, down, down / We all need somebody's help
** 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?
* Sick, wounded, or damaged:
** (normally in the combination 'down with') Sick or ill.
    He is down with the flu.
** (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.
** (veterinary medicine, of a cow) Stranded in a recumbent position; unable to stand.
    Synonym: (of "down cow") downer
    a down cow
** (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.
** (not comparable) Inoperable; out of order; out of service.
    Antonym: up
    The system is down.
* (slang) In prison.
** 1988 February 7, Crystal Dawn Boyd, “Let's Start Caring About Ourselves”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 29, page 5:I'm a TS who has been down for over 5 years and will be going up for parole in the next 1 to 3 years.
* Having a lower score than an opponent.
    Antonym: up
    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.
** 1983 August 13, Dennis Stinson, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 5, page 22:The prisoners here are down on gays (they bring the outside in here with them when they come in). I sometimes think they hate us because they fear to be us.
    She's been down on clams since a bad case of food poisoning; she's lost her appetite for them.
* (Canada, US, slang) Comfortable [with]; accepting [of]; okay [with].
    He's chill enough; he'd probably be totally down with it.
    Asker: Are you down to hang out at the mall? / Answerer: Yeah, as long as you're down with helping me pick a phone.
    Asker: You down? Yes or no? / Answerer: You know I'm down for whatever.
** 2001, Omar Tyree, For the Love of Money, page 121:Then again, with your name being Juanita Perez, I wasn't sure if you were more down with the Latinos or something.
** 2002, Count Basie, Albert Murray, Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography Of Count Basie, page 194: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.
** 2007, David W. Shave, Small Talk--big Cure!: Talking Your Way to a Better Life, page 58:And we could then feel more "down" with more unconscious guilt.
** 2019 September 30, Jessica Hopper, Sasha Geffen, Jenn Pelly, “Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair”, in Vanity Fair‎: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.
* (African-American Vernacular, slang) Accepted, respected, or loyally participating in the (thug) community.
    What you mean, 'No'? Man, I thought you was down.
** 1994, “Gangsta's Paradise”, Coolio (lyrics):my homies is down so don't arouse my anger
** 1995, Colors - Volume 4, page 28: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.
** 2009, Mike Flax, L.A. Unified, page 129: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.
* 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.
** 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.
* (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, page 84:This, he muſt give me leave to tell him, is an abſolute, right down—falſehood.
* (of a tree, limb, etc) Fallen or felled.
** 1897, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Report of the Commissioner ..., page 72: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.
** 1920, Boys and Girls Bookshelf: A Practical Plan of Character Building ..., page 309: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.
** 1935 (printed in 2009), Powell, Shenandoah Letters, 54:
    Will you please let me get two loads of down wood.
** 1981, Ecological Characteristics of Old-growth Douglas-fir Forests, page 31: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 […]
* (rail transport, of a train) Travelling in the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero.
    Antonym: up
    The down train leaves at 10:05.

##### Usage notes

In many senses, using this adjective in an attributive position (before the noun) is avoided in everyday Standard English:
    The system is down. / (nonstandard) They were fixing the down system.
Compare a synonym, faulty, which can be used either predicatively or attributively:
    The system is faulty. / They were fixing the faulty system. (both acceptable)
In certain specialised uses (such as the veterinary medicine, timber and rail transport senses), there is no avoidance of the attributive placement, which is used freely.

##### Derived terms

* down bad
* down but not out
* downtime

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

down (third-person singular simple present downs, present participle downing, simple past and past participle downed)
* (transitive) To knock (someone or something) down; to cause to come down; to fell. [from 16th c.]
    The storm downed several old trees along the highway.
    A single rifle shot downed the mighty beast.
** (transitive) Specifically, to cause (something in the air) to fall to the ground; to bring down (with a missile etc.). [from 19th c.]
    The helicopter was downed by a surface-to-air missile.
* (transitive) To lower; to put (something) down. [from 16th c.]
    The bell rang for lunch, and the workers downed their tools.
* (transitive, figurative) To defeat; to overpower. [from 17th. c.]
** 1725, Philip Sidney, The works of the Honourable Sir Philip Sidney, kt., in prose and verse, London: W. Innys, →OCLC, page 156:To down proud hearts that would not willing die.
* (transitive, colloquial) To disparage; to put down. [from 18th c.]
** 1779, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 141:‘I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the Wits, once at our House, – when they talked of Ghosts.’
** 1986 April 12, anonymous author, “One Day I'll Write a Book on This”, in Gay Community News, page 3:Now you have a social worker who downs women who are gay! […] I have met a woman and fell in love with her and I still get humiliated and discriminated against because he (social worker) is against homosexuality and is causing a lot of confusion here.
* (intransitive, rare or obsolete) To go or come down; to descend. [from 17th. c.]
** 1933, Arthur Bryant, quoting Samuel Pepys (1664, February 2nd), Samuel Pepys: The Man in the Making, New York: Macmillan, →OCLC, page 215:...that is, that the trade of the world is too little for us two, therefore one must down.
* (transitive, colloquial) To drink or swallow, especially without stopping before the vessel containing the liquid is empty. [from 19th c.]
    He downed an ale and ordered another.
** 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75: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.
* (transitive, American football, Canadian football) To render (the ball) dead, typically by touching the ground while in possession. [from 19th c.]
    He downed it at the seven-yard line.
* (transitive, golf, pocket billiards) To sink (a ball) into a hole or pocket. [from 20th c.]
    He downed two balls on the break.

##### Synonyms

* (drink): See also Thesaurus:drink

##### Derived terms

* double down
* down tools
* triple down

##### Translations
#### Noun

down (plural downs)
* 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).
** 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 10:She had a down on me. I don't know what for, I'm sure; because I never said a word.
* A downer, depressant.
** 1984 December 29, Gena Spero, “Innocent Lesbian In Prison”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 4:I am on drugs that I don't need to be on. They feel if I'm on a lot of downs, then I won't complain about my prison life
* 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.
* (crosswording) 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 −$^1$⁄$_3$.

##### Derived terms

* amp down
* antidown
* a whisper down the lane
* backdown
* bag down
* ball down
* bar down
* be down with
* belt down
* bid down
* blaze down
* boildown
* bolt down
* bone down
* bottle down
* bouncedown
* bowl down
* Branton
* break-down
* breast down
* bringdown
* bring down on
* bring down the curtain
* bro down
* buck down
* buff down
* bug down
* builddown
* bunk down
* burn one down
* buss-down
* buss down
* bust down
* bust-down
* butter down
* buydown
* buy down
* camp down
* cast down
* catch someone with their pants down
* chalk down
* chalk it down
* champ down on
* chuck down
* clean down
* cleardown
* clew down
* climbdown
* comb down
* copy down
* couch down
* countdown
* cramdown
* cure down
* darken down
* dig down
* Dorset Down
* douche down
* downable
* downalator
* down and distance
* down and out
* down at heel
* down at heels
* down-at-the-heel
* downbeat
* downblend
* downblouse
* downbound
* downbow
* downburst
* downcard
* downcase
* downchirp
* downclimb
* downcoast
* downcomer
* down-crested
* downcutting
* downcycle
* downdip
* downdraft
* downed (US and Canadian football)
* downer
* downface
* downfall
* downfalling
* downfield
* downflood
* downflow
* downfold
* downforce
* down for the count
* downgauge
* downgaze
* downglide
* downgoing
* downgone
* down-gyved
* downgyved
* downhearted
* down-hearted
* down-hole
* down in the dumps
* down in the mouth
* downish
* downless
* downlight
* downlighting
* downlike
* download
* downlooked
* downlooker
* downlying
* downmass
* down memory lane
* down-modulate
* downmost
* downness
* down on one's luck
* down-page
* down pat
* down payment
* downpick
* downpipe
* downpress
* downpression
* downpressor
* down quark
* downrange
* downrank
* down-river
* down round
* down route, downroute
* downsample
* downselection
* downshift
* downshifter
* downsitting
* downslope
* downsloping
* downslur
* downsome
* down someone's alley
* downspout
* downstair
* downstate
* downstreet
* downstrike
* downstroke
* downstroy
* downstyle
* downtempo
* down-tempo
* down the hatch
* down the house
* downthrow
* downthrown
* downtick
* down to every move on the board
* downtone
* down to the short strokes
* downtown
* downtread
* downtube
* down upon one's luck
* downward
* downwarp
* down with one's dust
* down with the dust
* downzone
* dragger-down
* drawdown
* drilldown
* drink down
* drop-down menu
* drydown
* dubdown
* duck down
* dumbed-down
* East Down
* eat down
* eiderdown
* evendown
* fasten down
* featherdown
* first down (US and Canadian football)
* fish down
* flake down
* flat down
* flatten down
* flop down
* flump down
* force down someone's throat
* fourth down (US football)
* get down on
* get down to
* glow-down
* go down south
* goosedown
* guzzle down
* harsh down
* have down
* have down as
* hew down
* hoedown
* hold it down
* hoot down
* horf down
* hound down
* howl down
* ice down
* jaw down
* keep one's voice down
* knock down
* knockdown
* knock-down-and-drag-out
* lamb down
* land down
* lard down
* lay down
* lay down on
* lay the hammer down
* lengthen down
* live down to
* load down
* lookdown
* lowdown
* manage down
* mix down
* mixdown
* moondown
* mop down
* mountdown
* neckdown
* North Downs
* officer down
* party down
* pastedown
* pat-down
* playdown
* plead down
* plough down
* plow down
* pop down
* press down
* pull-down resistor
* pull the shutters down
* push down
* pushdown
* put it down
* put something down to experience
* pyramid down
* render down
* ride down
* ride down on
* ringdown
* rinse down
* rip down
* salt down
* scale-down
* scoff down
* scour down
* scrape down
* scrawl down
* scribble down
* scrounge down
* scrub down
* sdown
* seat down
* second down (US and Canadian football)
* sell down the river
* send down for
* shine down on
* shine down upon
* shoot down
* short down
* shorten down
* shove down
* show down
* showdown
* shrink down
* shut-down
* sit one's butt down
* skinny down
* slam down
* slapdown
* slowing-down time
* slump down
* smackdown
* snack down on
* snork down
* snug down
* soap down
* sober down
* speak down to
* spelldown
* spindown
* splashdown
* spooldown
* staredown
* steep-down
* Stonebeck Down
* stowdown
* straight up and down
* strapdown
* sugar down
* sundown
* swab down
* swallow down
* swill down
* tail down
* talkdown
* teem down
* ten toes down
* the house down
* thin down
* third down (US and Canadian football)
* thistledown
* tighten down
* top-down
* torch down
* toss down
* touchdown
* towel down
* trace down
* tread down
* trickledown
* trim down
* tune down
* turndown
* turtle down
* up and down house
* up hill and down dell
* upside down
* walk down
* wet down
* while you're down there
* whisper down the lane
* whittle down
* window down
* winnow down
* wolve down
* you can't keep a good man down
* zipper down

##### Translations
#### 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 doune, from Old English dūn, from Proto-West Germanic *dūn (“sandhill, dune”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz, *dūnǭ (“pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze, dust”).
Alternatively, perhaps 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

down (countable and uncountable, plural downs)
* (especially Southern England, also Australia, often plural, often in place names) A hill; in England, especially a chalk hill.
    We went for a walk over the downs.
    The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown My bosky acres and my unshrubb'd down
** 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, London: Pr. for S. Smith, →OCLC:...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.
** 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Lady Clare”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, →OCLC, page 198:She went by dale, and she went by down, With a single rose in her hair.
** 1898, H. G. Wells, Certain Personal Matters: A Collection of Material, Mainly Autobiographical‎, Lawrence & Bullen, →OCLC, page 256: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.
* (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.
** 1636, George Sandys, “A Paraphrase Vpon Iob”, in Early English Books‎:Seven thousand broad-taild Sheepe gras'd on his Downes;

##### Derived terms

* Ashley Down
* Bedminster Down
* Carnon Downs
* Clifton Down
* downland
* Downside
* East Down
* Emery Down
* Epsom Downs
* Hackney Downs
* North Downs
* Quintrell Downs
* South Downs
* Southern Downs
* St Boniface Down
* West Down
* Western Downs

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### 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

down (countable and uncountable, plural downs)
* 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.
** 1718, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, London: W. Churchill, →OCLC, page 120: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
** 1998, Valerie Worth, The Crone's Book of Charms and Spells, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 152: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.
* The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear.
** 1717, John Dryden, The Dramatick Works of John Dryden, Esq., volume the fourth, London: Jacob Tonson, →OCLC, page 136:But love him as he was, when youthful Grace, And the firſt Down began to ſhade his face
** 1867, Ivan Sergheïevitch Turgenef [i.e., Ivan Turgenev], chapter I, in Eugene Schuyler, transl., Fathers and Sons […], New York, N.Y.: Leypoldt and Holt, →OCLC, page 1:The servant to whom he put this question was a young fellow with chubby cheeks, small, dull eyes, and a round chin, covered with a colorless down.
* That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down.
** 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: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.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=Prologue or Rpilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX):When in the down I sink my head, Sleep, Death's twin brother, times my breath.

##### Derived terms

* down feather
* down jacket
* powder-down feather
* powder-down patch

##### Translations
#### Verb

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

### Further reading

* Kroonen, Guus (2013) “dauna-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 90
* “down”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* nowd

## Chinese
### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): dàn
    (Zhuyin): ㄉㄢˋ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): daan$^1$ / daang$^1$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: dàn
*** Zhuyin: ㄉㄢˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: dàn
*** Wade–Giles: tan$^4$
*** Yale: dàn
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dann
*** Palladius: дань (danʹ)
*** Sinological IPA : /tän⁵¹/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: daan$^1$ / daang$^1$
*** Yale: dāan / dāang
*** Cantonese Pinyin: daan$^1$ / daang$^1$
*** Guangdong Romanization: dan$^1$ / dang$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /taːn⁵⁵/, /taːŋ⁵⁵/

### Etymology 1

From English down (“sad; depressed”).

#### Adjective

down
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) sad; depressed

#### Verb

down
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) to be sad; to be depressed

### Etymology 2

From English down (“inoperable; out of service”, adjective).

#### Verb

down
* (Hong Kong Cantonese, chiefly computing) to be out of service

##### Related terms

* 當機 / 当机 (dàngjī)

### Etymology 3

From clipping of English download.

#### Verb

down
* (informal) to download
For quotations using this term, see Citations:down.

##### Synonyms

* 下載／下载 (xiàzài)

#### See also

* download

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from English down.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dɑu̯n/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: down

### Adjective

down (used only predicatively, comparative meer down, superlative meest down)
* down, depressed

#### Synonyms

* depressief, depri

### Anagrams

* wond

## German
### Etymology

From English down.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

down (strong nominative masculine singular downer, not comparable)
* (colloquial) down, depressed
* (Internet, of websites and servers) down, not online
* (video games) down, defeated, without health left

### Further reading

* “down” in Duden online
* “down” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Polish
### Etymology

Named after British physician John Langdon Down.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈdawn/
* Rhymes: -awn
* Syllabification: down

### Noun

down m inan
* (informal, neurology) Down syndrome (genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21 (a chromosomal excess), whereby the patients typically have a delay in cognitive ability and physical growth, as well as a small head and tilted eyelids)
    Synonyms: mongolizm, mongołowatość, zespół Downa

#### Declension
### Noun

down m pers
* (colloquial, derogatory) Downie (person with Down syndrome)
* (colloquial, derogatory) dip, dumbhead, dumb cluck, dummkopf, hammerhead, ignorant (stupid person)
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:głupiec

#### Declension
### Further reading

* down in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* down in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Welsh
### Alternative forms

* dawn (colloquial first-person plural future)
* delwn, deswn, dethwn (colloquial first-person singular conditional)
* deuwn (literary; all forms)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dou̯n/
* Rhymes: -ou̯n

### Verb

down
* inflection of dod:
** first-person plural present/future
** first-person singular imperfect/conditional
** (literary) first-person plural imperative

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.