I. PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES
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 ~’ and ‘calm ~’.
Please look at category 15 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
To go ~ something such as a slope or a pipe means to go towards the ground or to a lower level.
We’re going ~ a mountain...
A man came ~ the stairs to meet them...
The tears began flooding ~ her cheeks.
? up
PREP
•
Down is also an adverb.
She went ~ to the kitchen again...
She sat on the window seat until they climbed ~ from the roof...
ADV: ADV after v
2.
If you are a particular distance ~ something, you are that distance below the top or surface of it.
He managed to cling on to a ledge 40ft ~ 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 ~.
ADV: amount ADV
3.
You use ~ 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 ~ at her papers...
She put her head ~, her hands over her face...
? up
ADV: ADV after v
4.
If you put something ~, you put it onto a surface.
Danny put ~ his glass...
ADV: ADV after v
5.
If you go or look ~ something such as a road or river, you go or look along it. If you are ~ a road or river, you are somewhere along it.
They set off at a jog up one street and ~ another...
...sailing ~ 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 ~ to that place, especially if you are going towards the south or to a lower level of land. (SPOKEN)
I went ~ to L.A. all the way from Seattle...
ADV: ADV after v
7.
If an amount of something goes ~, it decreases. If an amount of something is ~, it has decreased and is at a lower level than it was.
Interest rates came ~ today...
Inflation will be ~ to three percent...
My department had a healthy interest in keeping expenses ~...
The Dow Jones industrial average is ~ 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 ~ 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 ~, 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 ~ to the tea ladies.
PREP-PHRASE
10.
If you are ~ to a certain amount of something, you have only that amount left.
The poor man’s ~ to his last ?3.
PREP-PHRASE: PREP amount
11.
If a situation is ~ to a particular person or thing, it has been caused by that person or thing. (mainly BRIT)
Any mistakes are entirely ~ to us...
PREP-PHRASE
12.
If someone or something is ~ 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 ~ for an interview.
PREP-PHRASE
13.
If you pay money ~ on something, you pay part of the money you owe for it. (mainly AM)
He paid 20 percent ~.
PREP-PHRASE
see also put ~
14.
If people shout ‘~ with’ something or someone, they are saying that they dislike them and want to get rid of them. (SPOKEN)
Demonstrators chanted ‘~ with the rebels’.
PHRASE: PHR n disapproval
15.
up and ~: see up
ups and ~s: see up
II. ADJECTIVE USES
1.
If you are feeling ~, you are feeling unhappy or depressed. (INFORMAL)
The old man sounded really ~.
= low
ADJ: v-link ADJ
2.
If something is ~ on paper, it has been written on the paper.
That date wasn’t ~ on our news sheet.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ on n
3.
If a piece of equipment, especially a computer system, is ~, it is temporarily not working because of a fault. Compare up .
The computer’s ~ again.
ADJ: v-link ADJ
III. VERB USES
(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
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 ~s food or a drink, you mean that they eat or drink it.
We ~ed bottles of local wine.
= consume
VERB: V n
2.
If something or someone is ~ed, they fall to the ground because they have been hurt or damaged in some way. (JOURNALISM)
Two jet fighters were ~ed...
VERB: be V-ed
~ing
...the ~ing of an airliner, which killed 107 people.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
to ~ tools: see tool
IV. NOUN USES
1.
Down consists of the small, soft feathers on young birds. Down is used to make bed-covers and pillows.
...goose ~.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
Down is very fine hair.
The whole plant is covered with fine ~.
N-UNCOUNT
see also ~s