Word.ws English Dictionary

set-down

set-down is the alternative form of setdown.

Meaning of setdown

Noun

setdown (countable and uncountable, plural setdowns)

  1. The act of setting down something or someone.
    • setdown areas in a factory for materials unloaded from incoming vehicles
  2. The act of descending onto a surface (of an aircraft or spacecraft).
    • The platforms [at the rear of the spaceship] will also have legs for landing—designed to cushion the setdown and also to help level off the ship.1957, Lester Del Rey, chapter 11, in Rockets through Space, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, page 62
    Synonyms:
    landing, touchdown
  3. (dated) The humbling of a person by act or words.
    • Diva fell quietly asleep, and presently there were indications that she would soon be noisily asleep. Miss Mapp hoped that she would begin to snore properly, for that would be a good set-down for Lucia […]1931, E. F. Benson, chapter 6, in Mapp and Lucia, London: Hesperus, published 2014, page 143
  4. (dated) A retort or a reproof that has a humbling effect.
    • He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! […] I wish you had been there my dear, to have given him one of your set downs.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 3, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 26
    Synonyms:
    put-down
  5. (obsolete, slang) A sit-down meal eaten by a tramp; a charitable meal provided to a tramp in the giver's home.
    • In Germany and England the tramps usually eat their set-downs in cheap restaurants or at lodging-houses.1899, Josiah Flynt, Tramping with Tramps, New York: Century, published 1901, Part 1, Chapter 6, p. 146, footnote 1
  6. (US, obsolete, slang) A person’s buttocks.
    • “If we [boys] did get caught the watchman would take the wooden end of his hood, slap our setdowns, then give us a kick and say, ‘Get out!’ […]”1915, Clifton Johnson, chapter 11, in Highways and Byways of New England, New York: Macmillan, page 218

Forms of set-down

pluralset-downs

Origin of set-down

Deverbal from set down.

Questions about set-down

What is set-down the alternative form of?
Set-down is the alternative form of setdown.

Words near set-down in the dictionary

  1. set upon
  2. set with
  3. set-and-forget
  4. set-aside
  5. set-builder notation
  6. set-down
  7. set-downs
  8. set-fair
  9. set-in
  10. set-in sleeve
  11. set-in sleeves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: set-down (page history and authors); setdown (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “set-down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/set-down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.