adv. [ OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dūne off the hill. See Down. ] From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [ Archaic ] “Thrice did she sink adown.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. Down. [ Archaic & Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Her hair adown her shoulders loosely lay displayed. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A receding or giving up; a complete surrender. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Named for Dr. Basedow, a German physician. ] (Med.) A disease characterized by enlargement of the thyroid gland, prominence of the eyeballs, and inordinate action of the heart; -- called also exophthalmic goiter. Flint. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Arch.) A window forming a bay or recess in a room, and projecting outward from the wall, either in a rectangular, polygonal, or semicircular form; -- often corruptly called a bow window.
Syn. -- bay window, bow window, bow-window. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a protruding abdomen. [ informal ]
Syn. -- belly, paunch, pot, potbelly, corporation, tummy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. prenom. 1. devoting full strength and concentrated attention to.
Syn. -- determined. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. expressing the essence; condensed; summarized. the final boiled-down crux of the matter
Syn. -- boiled down. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (a) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take part in it break down. (b) Any rude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with. New Eng. Tales. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. conservatively formal and businesslike in dress and manner.
Syn. -- button-down, conservative. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a colorful character in the buttoned-down, dull-gray world of business. Newsweek

n. [ OE. cadawe, prob. fr. ca chough + daw jackdaw; cf. Gael. cadhag, cathag. Cf. Chough, Daw, n. ] (Zool.) A jackdaw. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A meadow irrigated by water from a spring or rivulet on the side of hill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A large whippoorwill-like bird (a species of goatsucker) (Caprimulgus carolinensis, formerly Antrostomus Carolinensis), of the southern United States; -- so called from its note. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. sudden restriction on an activity. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a retraction of a previously held position.
Syn. -- withdrawal, backdown. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Grand climacteric or
Great climacteric, the sixty-third year of human life. [ 1913 Webster ]

I should hardly yield my rigid fibers to be regenerated by them; nor begin, in my grand climacteric, to squall in their new accents, or to stammer, in my second cradle, the elemental sounds of their barbarous metaphysics. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. termination of operations; a shutdown.
Syn. -- closure, closing, shutdown. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A downfall; an humiliation. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To deprive of an endowment, as a church. Gladstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of depriving of an endowment or endowments. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The ] disendowment of the Irish Church. G. B. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To free from shadow or shade. [ Obs. ] G. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

or /mhw>, n. [ Literally, the window of a sleeping apartment. F. dormir to sleep. See Dormant, a. & n. ] (Arch.) A window pierced in a roof, and so set as to be vertical while the roof slopes away from it. Also, the gablet, or houselike structure, in which it is contained. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of vessel. See Dhow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ F. douer. See Dower. ] To furnish with a dower; to endow. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Finance) shortened form of the Dow-Jones Index or Dow Jones Industrial Average; as, the Dow rose 100 points today. [ PJC ]

a. [ From Dow, v. t. ] Capable of being endowed; entitled to dower. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. douagiere, fr. douage dower. See Dower. ] 1. (Eng. Law) A widow endowed, or having a jointure; a widow who either enjoys a dower from her deceased husband, or has property of her own brought by her to her husband on marriage, and settled on her after his decease. Blount. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A title given in England to a widow, to distinguish her from the wife of her husband's heir bearing the same name; -- chiefly applied to widows of personages of rank. [ 1913 Webster ]

With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Queen dowager, the widow of a king. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The rank or condition of a dowager; formality, as that of a dowager. Also used figuratively. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mansions that have passed away into dowagerism. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Doucet. ] One of the testicles of a hart or stag. [ Spelt also doucet. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Dowdier superl. Dowdiest. ] [ Scot. dawdie slovenly, daw, da sluggard, drab, Prov. E. dowd flat, dead. ] Showing a vulgar taste in dress; awkward and slovenly in dress; vulgar-looking. -- Dow"di*ly adv. -- Dow"di*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Dowdies An awkward, vulgarly dressed, inelegant woman. Shak. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a dowdy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. döbel peg, F. douelle state of a cask, surface of an arch, douille socket, little pipe, cartridge. ] (Mech.) 1. A pin, or block, of wood or metal, fitting into holes in the abutting portions of two pieces, and being partly in one piece and partly in the other, to keep them in their proper relative position. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A piece of wood driven into a wall, so that other pieces may be nailed to it. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dowel joint, a joint secured by a dowel or dowels. --
Dowel pin, a dowel. See Dowel, n., 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Doweled it>or Dowelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Doweling or Dowelling. ] To fasten together by dowels; to furnish with dowels; as, a cooper dowels pieces for the head of a cask. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. fastening by dowels. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. douaire, LL. dotarium, from L. dotare to endow, portion, fr. dos dower; akin to Gr. &unr_; gift, and to L. dare to give. See 1st Date, and cf. Dot dowry, Dotation. ] 1. That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift. [ 1913 Webster ]

How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower! Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

Man in his primeval dower arrayed. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The property with which a woman is endowed; especially: (a) That which a woman brings to a husband in marriage; dowry. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His wife brought in dower Cilicia's crown. Dryden.

(b) (Law) That portion of the real estate of a man which his widow enjoys during her life, or to which a woman is entitled after the death of her husband. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Dower, in modern use, is and should be distinguished from dowry. The former is a provision for a widow on her husband's death; the latter is a bride's portion on her marriage. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assignment of dower. See under Assignment. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. a. Furnished with, or as with, dower or a marriage portion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of dower; having no marriage portion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Dower. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The red-breasted or gray snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus); -- called also brownback, and grayback. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Finance) an index of certain stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange, computed by the Dow Jones publishing company as a weighted average of the prices of specific stocks in certain categories. Three indices are maintained, the Industrials, the Transportations, and the Utilities. When used without qualification, the term usually refers to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Syn. -- Dow, Dow Jones, Dow-Jones Average. [ PJC ]

n. (Finance) an index of certain stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange, computed by the Dow Jones publishing company as a weighted average of the prices of the common stocks of 30 specific companies classified as "industrial". The Dow Jones Industrial Average is often taken as an indicator of the movement of American stock prices generally, though other indices are maintained, averaging the prices of other stocks, and these often change in opposite directions from those of the DJIA.
Syn. -- DJI, DJIA, Dow, Dow Jones, Dow-Jones Average. [ PJC ]

n. Same as Dowle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. fr. Doullens, a town of Picardy, in France, formerly celebrated for this manufacture. ] A coarse linen cloth made in the north of England and in Scotland, now nearly replaced by calico. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. douille soft. Cf. Ductile. ] Feathery or wool-like down; filament of a feather. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

No feather, or dowle of a feather. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Akin to LG. dune, dun, Icel. d&unr_;nn, Sw. dun, Dan. duun, G. daune, cf. D. dons; perh. akin to E. dust. ] 1. Fine, soft, hairy outgrowth from the skin or surface of animals or plants, not matted and fleecy like wool; esp.: (a) (Zool.) The soft under feathers of birds. They have short stems with soft rachis and bards and long threadlike barbules, without hooklets. (b) (Bot.) The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, as of the thistle. (c) The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear. [ 1913 Webster ]

And the first down begins to shade his face. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down [ 1913 Webster ]

When in the down I sink my head,
Sleep, Death's twin brother, times my breath. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou bosom softness, down of all my cares! Southern. [ 1913 Webster ]

Down tree (Bot.), a tree of Central America (Ochroma Lagopus), the seeds of which are enveloped in vegetable wool. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cover, ornament, line, or stuff with down. [ R. ] Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. dun, doun, AS. dūn; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. dūn hill, fortified hill, Gael. dun heap, hillock, hill, W. din a fortified hill or mount; akin to E. town. See Town, and cf. Down, adv. & prep., Dune. ] 1. A bank or rounded hillock of sand thrown up by the wind along or near the shore; a flattish-topped hill; -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hills afford prospects, as they must needs acknowledge who have been on the downs of Sussex. Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

She went by dale, and she went by down. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep; -- usually in the plural. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Seven thousand broad-tailed sheep grazed on his downs. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. A road for shipping in the English Channel or Straits of Dover, near Deal, employed as a naval rendezvous in time of war. [ 1913 Webster ]

On the 11th [ June, 1771 ] we run up the channel . . . at noon we were abreast of Dover, and about three came to an anchor in the Downs, and went ashore at Deal. Cook (First Voyage). [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. [ From the adverb. ] A state of depression; low state; abasement. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

It the downs of life too much outnumber the ups. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ For older adown, AS. adūn, adūne, prop., from or off the hill. See 3d Down, and cf. Adown, and cf. Adown. ] 1. In the direction of gravity or toward the center of the earth; toward or in a lower place or position; below; -- the opposite of up. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, in many derived uses, as: (a) From a higher to a lower position, literally or figuratively; in a descending direction; from the top of an ascent; from an upright position; to the ground or floor; to or into a lower or an inferior condition; as, into a state of humility, disgrace, misery, and the like; into a state of rest; -- used with verbs indicating motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

It will be rain to-night. Let it come down. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I sit me down beside the hazel grove. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

And that drags down his life. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is not a more melancholy object in the learned world than a man who has written himself down. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

The French . . . shone down [ i. e., outshone ] the English. Shak.

(b) In a low or the lowest position, literally or figuratively; at the bottom of a descent; below the horizon; on the ground; in a condition of humility, dejection, misery, and the like; in a state of quiet. [ 1913 Webster ]

I was down and out of breath. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that is down needs fear no fall. Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. From a remoter or higher antiquity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation. D. Webster. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. From a greater to a less bulk, or from a thinner to a thicker consistence; as, to boil down in cookery, or in making decoctions. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Down is sometimes used elliptically, standing for go down, come down, tear down, take down, put down, haul down, pay down, and the like, especially in command or exclamation.

Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

If he be hungry more than wanton, bread alone will down. Locke.

Down is also used intensively; as, to be loaded down; to fall down; to hang down; to drop down; to pay down.

The temple of Herè at Argos was burnt down. Jowett (Thucyd.).

Down, as well as up, is sometimes used in a conventional sense; as, down East.

Persons in London say down to Scotland, etc., and those in the provinces, up to London. Stormonth. [ 1913 Webster ]

Down helm (Naut.), an order to the helmsman to put the helm to leeward. --
Down on or
Down upon (joined with a verb indicating motion, as go, come, pounce), to attack, implying the idea of threatening power. [ 1913 Webster ] Come down upon us with a mighty power. Shak. --
Down with, take down, throw down, put down; -- used in energetic command, often by people aroused in crowds, referring to people, laws, buildings, etc.; as, down with the king! “Down with the palace; fire it.” Dryden. --
To be down on, to dislike and treat harshly. [ Slang, U.S. ] --
To cry down. See under Cry, v. t. --
To cut down. See under Cut, v. t. --
Up and down, with rising and falling motion; to and fro; hither and thither; everywhere. “Let them wander up and down.” Ps. lix. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. [ From Down, adv. ] 1. In a descending direction along; from a higher to a lower place upon or within; at a lower place in or on; as, down a hill; down a well. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Towards the mouth of a river; towards the sea; as, to sail or swim down a stream; to sail down the sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

Down the country, toward the sea, or toward the part where rivers discharge their waters into the ocean. --
Down the sound, in the direction of the ebbing tide; toward the sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Downed p. pr. & vb. n. Downing. ] To cause to go down; to make descend; to put down; to overthrow, as in wrestling; hence, to subdue; to bring down. [ Archaic or Colloq. ] “To down proud hearts.” Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the wits, once at our house. Madame D'Arblay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To go down; to descend. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]