I. PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES
/daʊn/
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: '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’.
Please look at category 15 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
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.
≠ up
PREP
•
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...
ADV : ADV after v
2.
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...
≠ up
PREP : amount PREP n
•
Down is also an adverb.
For the last 18 months miners have cut a face to develop a new shaft 400 metres down.
ADV : amount ADV
3.
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...
≠ up
ADV : ADV after v
4.
If you put something down , you put it onto a surface.
Danny put down his glass...
ADV : ADV after v
5.
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...
...sailing down the river on a barge.
≠ up
PREP : oft amount PREP n
6.
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...
ADV : ADV after v
7.
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 department had a healthy interest in keeping expenses down...
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 5 points at 2,913.
≠ up
ADV : ADV after v , be ADV , oft ADV to/from/by amount
8.
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.
PHRASE : PHR with amount
9.
Down to a particular detail means including everything, even that detail. Down to a particular person means including everyone, even that person.
...from the chairman right down to the tea ladies.
PREP-PHRASE
10.
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.
PREP-PHRASE : PREP amount
11.
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...
PREP-PHRASE
12.
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.
PREP-PHRASE
13.
If you pay money down on something, you pay part of the money you owe for it. ( mainly AM )
He paid 20 percent down.
PREP-PHRASE
see also put down
14.
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’.
PHRASE : PHR n [ disapproval ]
15.
up and down: see up
ups and downs: see up
II. ADJECTIVE USES
/daʊn/
1.
If you are feeling down , you are feeling unhappy or depressed. ( INFORMAL )
The old man sounded really down.
= low
ADJ : v-link ADJ
2.
If something is down on paper, it has been written on the paper.
That date wasn’t down on our news sheet.
ADJ : v-link ADJ , usu ADJ on n
3.
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.
ADJ : v-link ADJ
III. VERB USES
/daʊn/
( downs, downing, downed)
Please look at category 3 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If you say that someone downs food or a drink, you mean that they eat or drink it.
We downed bottles of local wine.
= consume
VERB : V n
2.
If something or someone is downed , they fall to the ground because they have been hurt or damaged in some way. ( JOURNALISM )
Two jet fighters were downed...
VERB : be V-ed
• down‧ing
...the downing of an airliner, which killed 107 people.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
to down tools: see tool
IV. NOUN USES
/daʊn/
1.
Down consists of the small, soft feathers on young birds. Down is used to make bed-covers and pillows.
...goose down.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
Down is very fine hair.
The whole plant is covered with fine down.
N-UNCOUNT
see also downs