📖 D — The English dictionary · page 51

doughnut — Everyday, meaning 1: A doughnut is a small sweet cake of fried dough, often shaped like a ring with a hole, or a round ball filled with jam or cream.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A doughnut is any ring shape like this, such as a ring cushion or a rubber ring.↗ Example: I had a jam doughnut at the fair.↗ · Dad brought a box of twelve doughnuts to share.↗ · The doughnut was covered in pink icing and sprinkles.↗ · My doughnut got sugar all over my face.↗ · A ring doughnut has a hole in the middle.↗ · If 4 friends share 12 doughnuts equally, each gets 3.↗ · The car spun round and left a doughnut shape in the snow.↗

dove — Everyday, meaning 1: A dove is a pale grey or white bird of the pigeon family that coos.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A dove is a sign of peace; in the Bible a dove brought Noah an olive leaf, and the Holy Spirit came down like a dove on Jesus.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (US) Dove (rhymes with "stove") is a past tense of dive.↗ e.g. "She dove into the pool."↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (politics) A dove is a person who wants peace rather than war.↗ Example: A white dove sat on the church roof.↗ · Noah sent out a dove, and it came back with an olive leaf.↗ · We drew a dove with an olive branch for Peace Day.↗ · The doves cooed softly in the garden.↗ · Jake dove into the lake.↗ (US)↗ · The Spirit came down on Jesus like a dove.↗ · Two turtle doves are in the Christmas song.↗ · ‘I have caught a dove,’ answered he.↗ · And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.↗ (Torah GEN.8.10, JPS 1917)↗ · And he shall offer one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, such as his means suffice for; (Torah LEV.14.30, JPS 1917)↗ · And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more.↗ (Torah GEN.8.12, JPS 1917)↗ · His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks; washed with milk, and fitly set.↗ (Writings SNG.5.12, JPS 1917)↗ · Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves.↗ (Writings SNG.1.15, JPS 1917)↗ · Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their cotes?↗ (Prophets ISA.60.8, JPS 1917)↗

dovecote — Everyday, meaning 1: A dovecote is a small house or box built high up, where pigeons or doves live and lay their eggs.↗ Example: The pigeons flew back to the dovecote at dusk.↗ · Grandad built a dovecote on the barn wall.↗ · A fox crept round the dovecote looking for a meal.↗

dowager — Everyday, meaning 1: A widow who has a title or property from her dead husband, such as a «dowager duchess» or «dowager queen».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A grand, dignified old lady.↗ Example: The dowager duchess still lived in the old castle.↗ · The Empress Dowager ruled China for many years.↗ · After the king died, his widow became the queen dowager.↗ · A stern dowager sat in the front row of the concert.↗ · The young duke's mother was now called the dowager.↗ · The dowager wore pearls and a feathered hat.↗ · The Queen-dowager was wise and good, and tried her best to make her people happy.↗

dower — Everyday, meaning 1: A dower is the money, land or goods a bride brings to her husband when they marry, or property a widow keeps after her husband dies (old use, from fairy tales).↗ Example: The king promised a castle as her dower.↗ · He wanted a bride with a large dower of gold.↗ · The father said his daughter's dower would be a herd of cows.↗

dowerless — Everyday, meaning 1: Dowerless means having no dower, that is, with no money or property brought to a marriage; poor, with nothing given to the husband (old use).↗ Example: The dowerless maiden had only her kind heart.↗ · Being dowerless, she went out to work for her bread.↗ · Her friends called her dowerless because her father had no land to give.↗

down — Everyday, meaning 1: Down means toward a lower place.↗ You walk down the stairs.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Down means less or lower in amount, like prices going down.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Down can mean along: walk down the road.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Feeling down means feeling sad.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Down is the soft fluffy feathers of young birds.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: Write down means put on paper.↗ Everyday, meaning 7: Down means not working: «the internet is down».↗ Everyday, meaning 8: (casual) «I'm down» or «down for it» (US slang) means I agree, I'll join; «down to you» means your choice; «down under» means Australia and NZ.↗ Everyday, meaning 9: (rude) «Put someone down» is to make them feel small; «shut it down» and «pipe down» mean be quiet.↗ Everyday, meaning 10: (euphemism) «Downsizing» means sacking workers; «let someone down» means disappoint them.↗ Everyday, meaning 11: (formal) Exams say «decrease», «decline», «diminish», «descend», «reduce», «a reduction of» and «in a downward direction».↗ Everyday, meaning 12: To settle down means to make your home somewhere and stay there for good.↗ Example: The price went down by $3.↗ · The temperature dropped down to 2 degrees.↗ · She walked 5 blocks down the street.↗ · Write down the answer.↗ · Please sit down.↗ · Slow down near the school.↗ · He felt down after losing the game.↗ · Ducklings are covered in soft down.↗ · Count down from ten to zero.↗ · footy at 4, u down? we need 2 more.↗ · Pipe down, I'm counting the money!↗ · The temperature, initially 9 degrees, declines by 3 degrees and subsequently by a further 2 degrees.↗ State the final temperature.↗ · He was settled down for good.↗ · And Israel bowed down upon the bed's head.↗ (Torah GEN.47.31, JPS 1917)↗ · And Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.↗ (Torah GEN.23.12, JPS 1917)↗ · Let peoples serve thee, and nations bow down to thee.↗ (Torah GEN.27.29, JPS 1917)↗ · O my soul, tread them down with strength.↗ (Prophets JDG.5.21, JPS 1917)↗ · Go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.↗ (Prophets EZK.32.19, JPS 1917)↗ · But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him.↗ (Writings EST.3.2, JPS 1917)↗

downcast — Everyday, meaning 1: Downcast means sad and gloomy, looking down: she was downcast after losing the match.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Downcast eyes are eyes looking down, often because of shame, shyness or sadness.↗ Example: He stood with downcast eyes after breaking the vase.↗ · The downcast girl did not reply.↗ · Our team looked downcast after the goal was scored against us.↗

downfall — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A sudden fall, ruin or loss of power or success.↗ Example: And it shall hail, in the downfall of the forest; but the city shall descend into the valley.↗ (Prophets ISA.32.19, JPS 1917)↗

downhearted — Everyday, meaning 1: Downhearted means sad and without hope, feeling low after something has gone wrong: don't be downhearted if you lose.↗ Example: Don't be downhearted, you will do better next time.↗ · The little boy was downhearted after the rain spoiled the picnic.↗ · She felt downhearted when no one came to her party.↗

downhill — Everyday, meaning 1: Downhill means going down a slope towards the bottom of a hill.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A downhill path or road slopes down.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Going downhill can mean getting worse, like a game going downhill after a mistake.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: It's all downhill from here can mean the hard part is over and it will be easy now.↗ Example: We raced downhill on our bikes.↗ · Brake gently when you're riding downhill.↗ · Water always flows downhill.↗ · The ball rolled downhill into the pond.↗ · The walk back was easy because it was downhill.↗ · Things went downhill after we lost the first match.↗ · It's all downhill from here.↗ · She won the downhill ski race.↗ · But as he did so it began to roll very gently downhill.↗

download — Everyday, meaning 1: To copy a file, game, music or app from the internet onto a computer, tablet or phone.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: As a noun, something you download.↗ Example: Can I download this game?↗ · Ask a grown-up before you download anything.↗ · The download took five minutes.↗ · I downloaded the worksheet from the school website.↗ · Some free downloads hide viruses.↗ · We downloaded the photos to the computer.↗

downplay — Everyday, meaning 1: To downplay something means to make it seem smaller, less important or less serious than it really is.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Downplaying your own success means talking about it modestly, so you do not seem to show off.↗ Example: He downplayed his injury, but his ankle was badly swollen.↗ · «It was nothing,» she said, downplaying her prize.↗ · The company tried to downplay the size of the oil spill.↗ · Don't downplay a bad headache; tell the nurse.↗ · The team captain downplayed her part in the win.↗ · Understatement is a way of downplaying something on purpose for effect.↗ · The mayor downplayed the flood risk, and many people were not ready.↗

downpour — Everyday, meaning 1: A downpour is a very heavy fall of rain that comes down suddenly.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (figurative) A downpour of something is a lot of it coming at once.↗ Example: We were caught in a downpour on the way home.↗ · The sudden downpour flooded the playground.↗ · Sports day stopped because of a downpour.↗ · During the downpour we sheltered under a tree, but not in a thunderstorm.↗ · The downpour lasted only ten minutes.↗ · After the downpour the air smelled fresh.↗

downright — Everyday, meaning 1: Downright means complete or total, used to strengthen a word, often a bad one: a downright lie.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Downright as an adverb means completely or thoroughly: downright cold.↗ Example: That is downright rude of you!↗ · It was downright cold in the cave.↗ · He was a downright liar, and everyone knew it.↗

downside — Everyday, meaning 1: A downside is the bad part or disadvantage of something that is mostly good.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The downside of a plan is what could go wrong or what it costs you.↗ Example: The downside of having a dog is walking it in the rain.↗ · Living near school is great; the only downside is no bus ride with friends.↗ · Every plan has a downside.↗ · One downside of screens at night is poor sleep.↗ · On the downside, the trip costs a lot.↗ · List the upsides and downsides before you choose.↗

downsize — Everyday, meaning 1: To make a company smaller by cutting the number of workers.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To move to a smaller house or use something smaller, often to save money.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (euphemism) «We are downsizing» can be a soft way of saying people are losing their jobs.↗ Example: The company downsized and 50 workers lost their jobs.↗ · Grandma downsized to a small flat near us.↗ · We downsized to a smaller car to save petrol.↗ · Dad was let go when his firm downsized.↗ · After the kids left home, they decided to downsize.↗ · If a firm of 200 downsizes by a quarter, 150 workers are left.↗

downsizing — Everyday, meaning 1: Downsizing is when a company makes itself smaller by cutting jobs; workers lose their jobs.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Downsizing is moving to a smaller house or having fewer things, often when children have grown up.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (euphemism) Companies say "downsizing" as a softer word for sacking workers.↗ Example: The factory's downsizing meant 50 people lost their jobs.↗ · After the children left home, my grandparents downsized to a bungalow.↗ · The company called it downsizing, but Dad was let go.↗ · Downsizing a team can make the others work harder.↗ · We are downsizing our toy collection and giving some away.↗ · The shop is downsizing to a smaller building.↗

downstair — Everyday, meaning 1: Downstairs means on a lower floor of a house or building, usually the ground floor.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Downstairs also means going down the stairs to a lower floor.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The downstairs is the lower floor of a house.↗ «Downstair» is a rarer form of «downstairs»; the usual word is «downstairs».↗ Example: There are 3 rooms downstairs and 4 upstairs.↗ · 5 children are downstairs and 7 upstairs.↗ · She went downstairs to get 2 cups.↗ · How many people are downstairs now?↗ · Dad called us downstairs for dinner.↗ · Hold the rail when you walk downstairs.↗ · The downstairs toilet is next to the kitchen.↗ · Our neighbours downstairs have a dog.↗ · I heard a noise downstairs in the night.↗ · Miss Cat went downstairs and sent the wooer away.↗

downstream — Everyday, meaning 1: Downstream means in the direction a river or stream flows, towards the sea.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Downstream describes a place further along a river in that direction.↗ Example: The leaf floated downstream.↗ · We paddled our canoe downstream.↗ · The village is a mile downstream from the bridge.↗ · Rivers get wider as they flow downstream.↗ · Salmon swim upstream, not downstream, to lay their eggs.↗ · Pollution upstream can harm fish downstream.↗ · Never chase a ball that is being carried downstream; the water is stronger than you think.↗ · Remember, you are upstream and I am downstream."↗