Downland

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Open, gently rolling high ground covered mainly in grass, often used for grazing sheep
2. A stretch of unenclosed hilly land with grassy slopes, typically found on chalk or limestone uplands
3. Elevated, treeless pasture country made up of smooth rounded hills and open turf

Etymology: Downland is a compound of two plain English words, "down" and "land," and its history is essentially the history of those two parts joined together. The first element, "down," goes back to Old English "dūn," meaning a hill or upland, a sense that survives in place names and in the rolling chalk ridges of southern England. The second, "land," is the familiar word for ground or territory. Put together in Old English as "dūnland," the compound described the open, hilly country itself rather than any single hill. The sense of the compound has stayed close to its origin. It refers to the chalk and limestone uplands where grassland grows over shallow soil, and the word is most often used of the South Downs and similar ridges. Because the "down" element is older and more widely used in place names than in everyday speech, the compound tends to feel more regional and descriptive than the simple word "land."

Synonyms: upland, wold, moorland, highland

Antonyms: lowland