- downgrade (v.)
[downgrade 词源字典] - 1930, from down (adv.) + grade (v.). Related: Downgraded; downgrading. As a noun, "a downward slope," from 1858.[downgrade etymology, downgrade origin, 英语词源]
- downhill
- 1590s (n.); 1650s (adv.), 1727 (adj.), from down (adv.) + hill. Meaning âa downhill skiing raceâ is from 1960.
- Downing Street
- short street in London, named for British diplomat Sir George Downing (c. 1624-1684). It contains the residence of the prime minister (at Number 10), hence its metonymic use for "the British government," attested from 1781.
- download
- 1977 (n.), 1980 (v.), from down (adv.) + load (v.). Related: Downloaded; downloading.
- downplay (v.)
- "de-emphasize," 1968, from down (adv.) + play (v.). Related: Downplayed; downplaying.
- downpour (n.)
- 1811, from verbal phrase, down (adv.) + pour (v.).
- downright (adv.)
- c. 1200, "straight down," from down (adv.) + right (adj.1). Meaning "thoroughly" attested from c. 1300. Old English had dunrihte "downwards," and inverted form right-down is attested 17c.
- downscale (v.)
- 1945, American English, from down (adv.) + scale (v.). From 1966 as an adjective.
- downside (n.)
- 1680s, "underside," from down (adv.) + side. Meaning "drawback, negative aspect" is attested by 1995.
- downsize (v.)
- 1986 in reference to companies shedding jobs; earlier (1975) in reference to U.S. automakers building smaller cars and trucks (supposedly a coinage at General Motors), from down (adv.) + size (v.). Related: Downsized; downsizing.
- downspout (n.)
- 1896, from down (adv.) + spout (n.).
- downstairs (adv., adj.)
- 1590s, from down (adv.) + stairs (see stair).
- downstream (adv., adj.)
- 1706, from down (prep.) + stream (n.).
- downtime (n.)
- 1952, from down (adv.) + time (n.).
- downtown (n.)
- 1835, from down (adv.) + town. The notion is of suburbs built on heights around a city.
- downtrodden (adj.)
- 1560s, "stepped on," from down (adv.) + trodden. Figurative use, "oppressed," is from 1590s.
- downturn (n.)
- 1926 in the economic sense, from down (adv.) + turn (n.).
- downward (adv.)
- c. 1200, from down (adv.) + -ward. Old English had aduneweard in this sense. Downwards, with adverbial genitive, had a parallel in Old English ofduneweardes.
- downy (adj.)
- 1570s, from down (n.1) + -y (2).
- dowry (n.)
- early 14c., from Anglo-French dowarie, Old French doaire (late 13c.) "dower, dowry, gift," from Medieval Latin dotarium, from Latin dotare "to endow, portion," from dos (genitive dotis) "marriage portion," from PIE *do-ti (cognates: Sanskrit dadati, Greek didonai, Old Church Slavonic dati, Lithuanian duoti, Armenian tam, all meaning "to give"), from root *do- "to give" (see date (n.1)).
