down in the dumps

Sad or depressed. Molly's been moping around all week, and I have no idea why she's so down in the dumps. Rob has been down in the dumps ever since Gloria broke up with him. He's been down in the dumps ever since he found out he didn't get the job.

See also: down, dumps

down in the dumps

Also, down in the mouth. Discouraged, depressed, or sad, as in She's been down in the dumps ever since she lost the match, or What's wrong with him? He's so down in the mouth about everything. The noun dumps has been used for "a state of depression" since the early 1500s, and down in the mouth, alluding to the downturned corners of the mouth as a sign of misery, dates from the mid-1600s.

See also: down, dumps

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

down in the dumps

in the dumps

1. If you are down in the dumps or in the dumps, you feel depressed. Try to be sources of support for each other when one of you is feeling down in the dumps. I was in the dumps when I met Jayne. I was clearly not living the kind of life I should live.

2. If a business or economy is in the dumps or down in the dumps, it is doing badly. California's economy is unlikely to stay in the dumps for more than two years.

See also: down, dumps

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

down in the dumps

(of a person) depressed or unhappy. informal

In early 16th-century English dump had the meaning ‘a fit of depression’, a sense now surviving only in this expression.

See also: down, dumps

down in the ˈdumps

(informal) depressed; miserable: I’ve been feeling a bit down in the dumps since I lost my job. OPPOSITE: on top of the world

See also: down, dumps

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