down [1] (PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES)
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 prep To go down something such as a slope or a pipe means to go towards the ground or to a lower level. , (Antonym: up)
We're going down a mountain..., A man came down the stairs to meet them..., The tears began flooding down her cheeks.
Down is also an adverb., adv ADV after v
She went down to the kitchen again..., She sat on the window seat until they climbed down from the roof...
2 prep If you are a particular distance down something, you are that distance below the top or surface of it.
amount PREP n (Antonym: up)
He managed to cling on to a ledge 40ft down the rock face...
Down is also an adverb., adv amount ADV
For the last 18 months miners have cut a face to develop a new shaft 400 metres down.
3 adv You use down to say that you are looking or facing in a direction that is towards the ground or towards a lower level.
ADV after v (Antonym: up)
She was still looking down at her papers..., She put her head down, her hands over her face...
4 adv If you put something down , you put it onto a surface.
ADV after v
Danny put down his glass...
5 prep 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.
oft amount PREP n (Antonym: up)
They set off at a jog up one street and down another..., ...sailing down the river on a barge.
6 adv 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 ADV after v
I went down to L.A. all the way from Seattle...
7 adv 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.
ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV to/from/by amount (Antonym: up)
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.
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.
a number down and a number to go phrase PHR with amount
Thirteen months down, twenty-four years to go.
9 prep-phrase 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.
10 prep-phrase If you are down to a certain amount of something, you have only that amount left.
PREP amount
The poor man's down to his last £3.
11 prep-phrase 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...
12 prep-phrase 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.
13 prep-phrase If you pay money down on something, you pay part of the money you owe for it.
(mainly AM)
He paid 20 percent down.
→
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
down with phrase PHR n (disapproval)
Demonstrators chanted `down with the rebels'.
15
→
up and down
→
up
→
ups and downs
→
up
