downing

Verb

down (third-person singular simple present downs, present participle downing, simple past and past participle downed)

1. (predicative, transitive) To knock (someone or something) down; to cause to come down; to fell.
   • The storm downed several old trees along the highway.
   1. (predicative, transitive) Specifically, to cause (something in the air) to fall to the ground; to bring down (with a missile etc.).
      • The helicopter was downed by a surface-to-air missile.
2. (predicative, transitive) To lower; to put (something) down.
   • The bell rang for lunch, and the workers downed their tools.
3. (figuratively, predicative, transitive) To defeat; to overpower.
   • To down proud hearts that would not willing die.1725, Philip Sidney, The works of the Honourable Sir Philip Sidney, kt., in prose and verse, London: W. Innys, →OCLC, page 156
4. (colloquial, predicative, transitive) To disparage; to put down.
   • ‘I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the Wits, once at our House, – when they talked of Ghosts.’1779, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 141
5. (intransitive, obsolete, predicative, rare) To go or come down; to descend.
   • ...that is, that the trade of the world is too little for us two, therefore one must down.1933, Arthur Bryant, quoting Samuel Pepys (1664, February 2nd), Samuel Pepys: The Man in the Making, New York: Macmillan, →OCLC, page 215

See all 77 meanings of down