Downing

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈdaʊnɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of causing something to fall or come down ; the quick swallowing of a beverage or food ; the controlled landing of an aircraft on the ground
2. Bringing an object or person to the ground by force or action ; the rapid intake of liquid or food ; the procedure in which a plane touches down safely
3. The process of knocking over or overthrowing something ; a swift act of consuming a drink or mouthful ; the maneuver and completion of an airplane's descent to the surface

Etymology: The participle "downing" is simply "down" with the "-ing" ending, so its story is really the story of "down" itself. That word began as a phrase meaning "off the hill": Old English "of dūne", combining "of" (off) with "dūn", a word for hill. Over time the first part dropped away, leaving "dūne" and then "down", with the sense of "downward" following from the original idea of leaving a height. The same root "dūn" gave English a second, very different word. It is a doublet of "down" in the sense of a sandy hill, which is the ancestor of the modern "dune". Dutch "duin" and German "Düne" are cognates of that sandy-hill sense, so the hill that gives us "down" also gives us the sand dunes of the coast.

Synonyms: drinking, gulping, consuming, swallowing, devouring