down
1. verb To eat or drink something very quickly. Wow, you guys really downed that dish—I guess you liked it! I had to down my coffee to get to the bus stop on time. The child was so hungry that he downed down the whole plate of food in a matter of minutes.
2. verb To throw or shove someone to the ground. Well, that was a quick wrestling match—Adam downed his opponent in no time at all. As soon as I refused to give up my lunch money, the bully downed me. Luckily, a teacher saw Billy down Nick and came running to break up the fight.
3. noun In American football, one of four chances to advance a minimum of 10 yards. If the team in possession of the ball does not advance 10 yards in these four attempts, then they yield the ball to their opponent. On a miraculous play, they scored a touchdown on fourth down. Do you think they'll kick the ball if they haven't made much progress by fourth down? What play do you want to try on third down?
4. adjective Sad or depressed. Sorry, I'm a little down—I had a really bad day. A: "You seemed kind of down, so I got you a treat from the vending machine." B: "Aww, that's so nice of you!" Johnny's still down about that misplay he had in the outfield yesterday.
5. adjective Not functioning, as of a machine or system. The computer system will be down this weekend for some routine maintenance. No, the washing machine cannot be down, not when I have three sick kids at home! Well, if the phone system is down, you'll have to go to Carrie's office and ask her this in person.
6. adjective Finished or completed. All right, one room down, two to go before our painting is done. A: "How many tests have you graded so far?" B: "Twelve down, three to go." A: "Woo, six word problems down!" B: "That's great! How many do you have left?" A: "Thirteen." B: "Oh."
7. adjective At a deficit; behind in the score. We're only down by one, so we have plenty of time to make a comeback in the third period. Wow, bottom of the second and we're already down by seven? Yeesh. I pulled the goalie that early because we were down by two, and I thought that gave us our best chance to tie it up.
8. adjective Committed to memory. I still don't have the quadratic equation down—can you remind me what it is? A: "You had all those definitions down, though." B: "I know, and I totally blanked when I sat down to take the test!" If you have all the noble gases down, then tell me what they are.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
down
verbdown
verbdown
2. mod. [of a machine] inoperative. (Originally said of a computer.) The system is down. Come back later.
3. tv. to eat or drink something down quickly. She downed her sandwich in record time.
4. tv. to throw someone down, as in wrestling; to knock someone down as in a fight. Wilbur downed his opponent and won the match.
5. mod. behind in a score. They’re twenty points down, and it looks like the Adamsville team has won.
6. mod. finished; completed; behind one. One down and three to go.
7. mod. learned; memorized. (From sense 6) I’ve got the dates down, but not the names.
8. mod. okay; satisfactory; cool; in agreement. (see also
down (with someone).)
We had a fight, but we’re down now. 9. mod. prepared; knowledgeable. (From senses 7 and 8.) Are you down for the test tomorrow?
10. mod. alcohol intoxicated. Five beers and he was down.
11. Go to downer.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.