What does down mean?

What does down mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does down mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] soft fine feathers[v] drink down entirely(He downed three martinis before dinner She killed a bottle of brandy that night They popped a few beer after work)[a] being or moving lower in position or less in some value(lay face down the moon is down our team is down by a run down by a paw

down

down - The Free Dictionary

[n] soft fine feathers

[v] drink down entirely
(He downed three martinis before dinner She killed a bottle of brandy that night They popped a few beer after work)

[a] being or moving lower in position or less in some value
(lay face down the moon is down our team is down by a run down by a pawn the stock market is down today)

[r] spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position
(don't fall down rode the lift up and skied down prices plunged downward)

[n] (American football) a complete play to advance the football
(you have four downs to gain ten yards)

[v] eat immoderately
(Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal)

[a] extending or moving from a higher to a lower place
(the down staircase the downward course of the stream)

[r] away from a more central or a more northerly place
(was sent down to work at the regional office worked down on the farm came down for the wedding flew down to Florida)

[n] English physician who first described Down's syndrome (1828-1896)

[v] bring down or defeat (an opponent)

[a] becoming progressively lower
(the down trend in the real estate market)

[r] paid in cash at time of purchase
(put ten dollars down on the necklace)

[n] (usually plural) a rolling treeless highland with little soil

[v] shoot at and force to come down
(the enemy landed several of our aircraft)

[a] being put out by a strikeout
(two down in the bottom of the ninth)

[r] from an earlier time
(the story was passed down from father to son)

[n] fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)

[v] cause to come or go down
(The policeman downed the heavily armed suspect The mugger knocked down the old lady after she refused to hand over her wallet)

[a] understood perfectly
(had his algebra problems down)

[r] to a lower intensity
(he slowly phased down the light until the stage was completely black)

[v] improve or perfect by pruning or polishing
(refine one's style of writing)

[a] lower than previously
(the market is depressed prices are down)

[r] in an inactive or inoperative state
(the factory went down during the strike the computer went down again)

[a] shut
(the shades were down)

[a] not functioning (temporarily or permanently)
(we can't work because the computer is down)

[a] filled with melancholy and despondency
(gloomy at the thought of what he had to face gloomy predictions a gloomy silence took a grim view of the economy the darkening mood lonely and blue in a strange city depressed by the loss of his job a dispirited and resigned expression on her face downcast after his defeat feeling discouraged and downhearted)

Other vocabulary

d, d and c, d region, d'oyly carte, d-day, d-layer, d. h. lawrence, d. w. griffith, d.a., d.c., d.o.a., d.p.r.k., da, da gamma, da vinci, da'wah, dab, daba, dabble, dabbled, dabbler, dabbling duck, dabchick, daboecia, daboecia cantabrica, dacca, dace, dacelo, dacelo gigas, dacha, o, o level, o ring, o'brien, o'casey, o'clock, o'connor, o'er, o'flaherty, o'hara, o'keeffe, o'neill, o'toole, o. henry, o.d., o.e.d., o.k., oaf, oafish, oahu, oahu island, oak, oak apple, oak blight, oak chestnut, oak fern, oak leaf cluster, oak tree, oak-leaved goosefoot, oaken

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.