1 a : from a higher to a lower place or position
▪ The land slopes down to the sea. ▪ Please pull down the window shade. = Please pull the window shade down. ▪ I'll come down [=downstairs] in a minute. ▪ She called down to her friends in the street below. ▪ They set/put the cake down on the table. ▪ Lay down your book for a minute. ▪ We watched the sun go down.
b : in a low position or place
▪ Keep your head down. ▪ We keep our wine collection down in the basement. ▪ What's going on down there? 2 : to or toward the ground or floor
▪ He fell down and hurt his knee. ▪ Climb down out of that tree! ▪ He knocked him down with one punch. ▪ Don't look down! ▪ Brightly colored flags hang down from the ceiling. 3 : to a lying or sitting position
▪ Please, sit down. ▪ Lie down and go to sleep. 4 a : to or toward the south
▪ They went down to Florida for two weeks. ▪ We drove down from New York. ▪ The weather's much warmer down south.
b informal : to or toward a place that is thought of as below or away from another place
▪ She drove down to our house. ▪ Come on down and see us sometime.
c : to or toward a place that is away from the speaker
▪ He is heading down to the store. ▪ Would you mind moving (further) down so that we can sit here, too? 5 : on a piece of paper
▪ Write down everything he says. ▪ Take down this number. ▪ Did you get that down? 6 : at a lower or lesser important position in a list or series
▪ Supporting public education seems to be far down [=low] on the government's agenda. ▪ Cleaning my house ranks pretty far down on my list. [=there are many other things I'd rather do] — opposite up 7 : to a lower or lesser degree, level, or rate
▪ Slow down. ▪ Could you turn the volume down, please? ▪ We should give them some time to cool down. ▪ We should wait for the winds to calm down before we set sail. ▪ The company's stock went down last week. ▪ The team was 10 points down [=it had 10 fewer points than the other team] in the third quarter. ▪ The price of gasoline is starting to go down again. — opposite up 8 : to a smaller or weaker state
▪ We have scaled down our plans for the new building. ▪ Some people want to use the budget surplus to pay down the national debt. [=to make payments that will reduce the a national debt] ▪ They have cut/whittled down the number of candidates. — often + to ▪ He finally got his report down to three pages. 9 : to a state of failure or defeat
▪ The school board voted the budget down 55 to 15. [=it voted not to pass the budget] 10 : in a way that causes someone or something to be less able to move
▪ Remember to tie down the load. ▪ They had to strap the patient down to his bed. 11 : in a thorough or complete way
▪ The car needs to be washed down. ▪ Hose the dog down outside. 12 : to the place where a person or thing is or came from
▪ They use dogs to hunt down escaped prisoners. ▪ He chased the ball down and threw it to third base. ▪ Every attempt to pin down the cause of the disease has proved unsuccessful. ▪ I haven't been able to track down that quotation. 13 : from a past time
▪ This vase has been handed down in our family for several generations. ▪ Most of these stories were passed down by word of mouth. 14 : as a first payment : as a down payment
▪ We put 10 percent down [=we made a 10 percent down payment] on the house. ▪ Buy a car now with no money down. [=without making a down payment] 15 : in the stomach
▪ The baby is having trouble keeping food down. 16 Brit : away from a school or university
▪ He was sent down for misconduct and never earned his degree.