English Dictionary
◊ DOWN
down
adj 1: being or moving lower in position or less in some value;
"lay face down"; "the moon is down"; "our team is down
by a run"; "down by a pawn"; "the stock market is down
today" [ant: {up}]
2: becoming progressively lower; "steadily declining incomes";
"the down trend in the real estate market" [syn: {declining},
{down(a)}]
3: understood perfectly; "had his algebra problems down" [syn:
{down pat(p)}, {mastered}]
4: extending or moving from a higher to a lower place; "the
down staircase"; "the downward course of the stream" [syn:
{down(a)}, {downward(a)}]
5: out; "two down in the last of the ninth" [syn: {down(p)}]
6: lower than previously; "the market is depressed"; "prices
are down" [syn: {depressed}, {down(p)}]
7: shut; "the shades were down"
8: (used of computers) temporarily not operating; "can't do a
thing because the computers are down" [syn: {down(p)}]
9: cut down; "the tree is down" [syn: {cut}, {cut down}]
10: not functioning; "we can't work because the computer is
down"
11: low in spirits; "lonely and blue in a strange city";
"depressed by the loss of his job"; "a dispirited and
resigned expression on her face"; "downcast after his
defeat"; "feeling discouraged and downhearted" [syn: {blue},
{depressed}, {dispirited}, {down(p)}, {downcast}, {downhearted},
{low}, {low-spirited}]
12: the fractional price paid in cash at time of purchase; "the
down payment"; "a payment of $200 down"
n 1: soft fine feathers
2: a complete play to advance the football; "you have 4 downs
to gain 10 yards"
3: (usually plural) a rolling treeless highland with little
soil
adv 1: spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level
or position; "don't fall down"; "rode the lift up and
skied down"; "prices plunged downward" [syn: {downwards},
{downward}, {downwardly}] [ant: {up}, {up}, {up}, {up}]
2: away from a more central or a more northerly place; "was
sent down to work at the regional office"; "worked down on
the farm"; "came down for the wedding"; "flew down to
Flordia" [ant: {up}]
3: paid in cash at time of purchase; "put ten dollars down on
the necklace"
4: from an earlier time; "the story was passed down from father
to son"
5: to a lower intensity; "he slowly phased down the light until
the stage was completely black" [ant: {up}]
6: in an inactive or inoperative state; "the factory went down
during the strike"; "the computer went down again"
v 1: drink down entirely; "He downed three martinis before
dinner"; "She killed a bottle of brandy that night"
[syn: {toss off}, {bolt down}, {belt down}, {pour down},
{drink down}, {kill}]
2: eat immoderately; "Some people can down a pound of meat in
the course of one meal" [syn: {devour}, {consume}, {go
through}]
3: bring down or defeat, in sports
4: shoot at and force to come down; of aircraft [syn: {shoot
down}, {land}]
5: cause to come or go down; "The policeman downed the heavily
armed suspect" [syn: {knock down}, {cut down}, {push down},
{pull down}]
6: improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's
style of writing" [syn: {polish}, {refine}, {fine-tune}]
English Computing Dictionary
◊ DOWN
down
1. Not operating. "The up escalator is down" is considered a
humorous thing to say, and "The elevator is down" always
means "The elevator isn't working" and never refers to what
floor the elevator is on. With respect to computers, this
term has passed into the mainstream; the extension to other
kinds of machine is still hackish.
2. "go down" To stop functioning; usually said of the
{system}. The message from the {console} that every hacker
hates to hear from the operator is "System going down in 5
minutes".
3. "take down", "bring down" To deactivate purposely, usually
for repair work or {PM}. "I'm taking the system down to work
on that bug in the tape drive." Occasionally one hears the
word "down" by itself used as a verb in this sense.
See {crash}; opposite: {up}.
[{Jargon File}]
(1994-12-07)