downward,adv.(prep.)anda.|ˈdaʊnwəd|For forms see downadv.[Primarily an aphetic form of adownward, inOE.adúnweard; butsubseq.referred directly to down: see -ward.]A.adv.1.Towards a lower place or position; towards what is below: with a descending motion or tendency.a.in reference to movement through space.c1200Trin.Coll.Hom.105Ech god giue..cumeð of heuene dunward.
c1230Hali Meid. 19Ha..walden fallen duneward.
1297R.Glouc.(1724) 362As hii þat donward come.
1398TrevisaBarth. De P.R. xiii. xxiv. (1495) 456A drope..fallyth dounwarde by his owne heuynesse.
1535Coverdale2 Kings xx. 10It is an easy thinge for the shadowe to go ten degrees downewarde.
1641FrenchDistill.i. (1651) 40This Oil taken inwardly worketh upward and downward.
1887BowenVirg.æneid i. 607While streams downward run to the sea.
b.in reference to direction, attitude, or aspect.c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xix. 87Lukand douneward to þe erthe.
c1450DouceMS.55 ch. x,Tourne the brede doun⁓warde in the panne.
1562J. HeywoodProv.& Epigr. (1867) 113,I looke downeward to my feete.
1793SoutheyTriumph Woman 302Why downward droops his musing head?
1855BrowningOld Pictures in Florence x,'Tis looking downward makes one dizzy.
c.in reference to position or situation.a1300Cursor M. 9887 (Cott.)Þis castel dunward þan es it polist slight.
c1391ChaucerAstrol.ii. §36Thanne set I the point..downward in the same signe.
c15111stEng.Bk.Amer.(Arb.)Introd.33/2Fro ye myddell don⁓warde ben they lyke the halfe neder parte of an horse.
1641J. JacksonTrueEvang.T. ii. 115[St.Peter]was crucified..with his head downward.
1667MiltonP.L. i. 463Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man And downward Fish.
1854J. Scoffern inOrr'sCirc.Sc.Chem.24Metallic cones, ranged apices downward.
2.fig.a.Towards that which is lower in order, or inferior in any way.a1300Cursor M. 1943 (Cott.)Fra me dun-ward drogh man his thoght.
c1440Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 48In þe lyne of kynrede dounward, Þi sone to þe is in þe firste degre.
1596Dalrympletr.Leslie'sHist.Scot.iv. 260The Peichtis in thair guddis and ryches downward began to declyne.
a1732T. BostonCrook in Lot (1805) 160God carries his people's circumstances downward..till they come to that point.
1847EmersonRepr. MenWks.(Bohn) I. 351Things seem to tend downward, to justify despondency.
b.Onward from an earlier to a later time.1611BibleTransl.Pref.3From Christes time downe⁓ward.
1679–1714BurnetHist.Ref.an. 1535 (R.)From the twelfth century downward.
1849GroteGreece ii. lxvi,All the old laws of Athens, from Solon downward.
3.Comb.1821ShelleyPrometh. Unb. ii. v,Downward-gazing flowers.
1865G. M. HopkinsPoems (1948) 134A block of copse Close-rooted in the downward-hollowing fields.
1871BrowningBalaust. 1370The downward-dwelling people.
1878B. TaylorDeukalion iii. i. 97. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 377Exterior splendour may be the surface of a downwardtending lutulent reality.
Ibid.656Slow erosions of peninsulas and downwardtending peninsulas.
1943L. B. LyonEvening in Stepney 14Fuel for the downward-bending The sod-quickening fire.
1964J. C. Catford in D. Abercrombie et al.Daniel Jones 35A downward-forward displacement of the hyoid bone..can easily be observed.
†B.prep.=downprep.1. Obs.rare.c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. v. (1869) 3A corde..he hadde set dounward þe wal.
C.adj.1.Directed towards that which is lower; descending; inclined downward.a.lit.1552Huloet,Downewarde, præceps.
1592Shakes.Ven. & Ad. 1106This foul..boar, Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave.
1697DrydenVirg.Georg. iv. 517The downward track.
1728–46ThomsonSpring 188In the western sky the downward sun Looks out.
1878HuxleyPhysiogr.146The downward current of the river.
b.fig.a1586Sidney (J.)At the lowest of my downward thoughts.
1700DrydenSigism. & Guisc. 344Thy low fall..Shows downward appetite to mix with mud.
1727–46ThomsonSummer 1516A Hampden..who stemmed the torrent of a downward age To slavery prone.
1869FreemanNorm.Conq. (1876) III. xiii. 303Steps in a downward scale.
2.Lying or situated below; lower. rare.a1300Cursor M. 9926 (Gött.)Þat rechis to þe donwar[v.r. neþemest]light.
1697DrydenVirg.Georg. i. 341Aurora..lights the downward Heav'n.
1824CampbellTheodric 138The waste and wild Schreckhorn..frowning..Upon a downward world of pastoral charms.
Hence ˈdownwardly adv.=downwardadv.; ˈdownwardness.1839BaileyFestus iii. (1852) 26That downwardness of soul.
1850BrowningEaster Day xv. 33Certain rays..Shot downwardly.
1872MivartElem.Anat.60The downwardly tapering condition of the coccygeal vertebræ.
▸ downward-mobileadj.chiefly N.Amer.=downwardly mobileadj.at downwardlyadv.Compounds 2.1948Public Opinion Q. 12 700For 100 cases where the economic status of the public relations men could be compared with that of their fathers,..only seven were *downward mobile.
1959V. PackardStatus Seekers (1960) xviii. 256Many socially declining or downward-mobile people turn to alcohol or drugs for support.
1994Philadelphia Tribune (Nexis) 29 Apr. 1 b,Below this..is the steadily downward-mobile, African location known as Soweto.
▸ downward mobilityn.movement from a higher to a lower social or professional level; loss of wealth and status;cf.upward mobility at upwardadv.1e.1929M. Ginsberg inEcon.Jrnl.39 562On the evidence before us there is very little *downward mobility from I to III, and this is not in harmony with the suggestion often made that the lower classes are recruited sensibly from the failures of the upper.
1949H. A. Murray in H. MelvillePierreIntrod.p. xxxviii,From wealth to penury, from leisure to toil... A sociologist might call it a tragedy of downward mobility, the exact antithesis of the basic American myth.
1993Esquire Sept. 126/2Some men tolerate a little downward mobility just fine—just don't settle for no mobility at all. Men treading water in their careers tend to check out earliest of all.
