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
   • The [tour] bus brought them to the next setdown point, the gravesites of John and Robert Kennedy.1980, Brian O’Connor, chapter 23, in The One-Shot War,, New York: Times Books, page 149
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
   • The medic would have to hold them on hover and watch the radar for a clear setdown.1969, Andre Norton, chapter 13, in Postmarked the Stars, New York: Ballantine, published 1985, page 132

   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
   • To see a family taking deck passage on the boat […] is an interesting spot in the day’s experience, especially when some patronising passenger, accustomed to “natives” in other countries, gets one of the delightful set-downs the Maori can give so effectively.1907, Beatrice Grimshaw, chapter 15, in In the Strange South Seas,, London: Hutchinson, page 314

   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
   • They had just finished eating, and I was taken right into the dining room—in itself a most unusual happening, for the tramp who is lucky enough to win a set-down usually receives it in the kitchen.1907, Jack London, “Holding Her Down”, in The Road, New York: Macmillan, page 28
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