Down

Part of speech: adverb, noun

Pronunciation: /daʊn/

Definitions

1. From a higher to a lower position or place; toward or in a lower part or place; covering the lower surface or side of something
2. In a descending direction or movement; at a point or level below a reference place; indicating depression or reduction in amount or intensity
3. Positioned or situated beneath or below; expressing movement to a lower state or condition; relating to the soft layer of fine feathers underneath the tougher exterior feathers of birds

Etymology: Before "down" meant a downward motion, it was a hill. Old English "dūn" meant "hill" or "mount," and the phrase "of dūne" literally meant "off the hill," so going downward was originally described as coming off a rise. The "a-" prefix in "adūne" was later dropped, leaving "dūne" as an adverb and preposition meaning "down" by the time it appeared in Middle English as "doun." The same root gave English a second word. "Dune," the sandhill, came into English from Dutch or Low German "duin," and it is a doublet of "down," meaning the two words descend from the same source by separate routes. The Old English "dūn" that later became "down" in the sense of a grassy upland, as in the North Downs, shows the hill sense surviving in place names. The Old English root's origin is uncertain. It may derive from a Proto-Germanic word for a heap or pile, or it may be a borrowing from a Celtic word meaning hill or fort, related to Welsh "din" and Irish "dún." Scholars have not settled which.

Synonyms: feathers, soft, fluff, downward, beneath

Antonyms: up, above, over, high, top