Adverb The land slopes down to the sea. She called down to her friends in the street below. They set the cake down on the table. Lay down your book for a minute. We watched the sun go down. We keep our wine collection down in the basement. What's going on down there? He fell down and hurt his knee. Climb down out of that tree! He knocked him down with one punch. Preposition Sweat dripped down her neck. The children ran down the hill. She fell down the stairs. He climbed down the ladder. He spilled mustard down the front of his shirt. Her hair hung loosely down her back. Go down the road and turn left. We grew up down the block from each other. The bathroom is halfway down the hall on the right. His pitches were right down the middle of the plate. Verb The storm downed power lines throughout the city. a large number of downed power lines They were downing beers and watching the game on TV. The quarterback downed the ball to stop the clock. Adjective The window shades were down. The candy is down on the bottom shelf. There was a pile of dirty clothes down on the floor. She took the down escalator. These changes should help keep prices down. Stocks are down again today. See More
Word History
Etymology
Adverb, Preposition, Verb, Adjective, and Noun (1)
Middle English doun, from Old English dūne, short for adūne, of dūne, from a- (from of), of off, from + dūne, dative of dūn hill
Noun (2)
Middle English doun hill, from Old English dūn — see downentry 1
Noun (3)
Middle English doun, from Old Norse dūnn
First Known Use
Adverb
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)