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adown. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
adown, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
adown in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
adown you have here. The definition of the word
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adown, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English adoun, from Old English adūn, earlier ofdūne (“down”), from of dūne (“off the hill”) (compare Latin ad vallum > Old French à val, used in the same way).
Pronunciation
Adverb
adown (not comparable)
- (archaic) Down, downward; to or in a lower place.
1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:Many a family circle wept as they looked upon the familiar places, which would know their lost ones no more; but ah, chide me not, kind reader, in thus leading you adown to the coldness of death, in setting before you that which causes your tender heart to shudder.
1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “After Twenty Years”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 214:The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. […] Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.
Preposition
adown
- (archaic) Down.
1875, Charlotte Riddell, The Uninhabited House:I fell from one dream into another; found myself wandering through impossible places; […] peering out into the darkness, to catch a sight of a vague figure standing somewhere in the shadow, and looking, with the sun streaming into my eyes and blinding me, adown long white roads filled with a multitude of people […]
Quotations
Anagrams
Scots
Preposition
adown
- Alternative form of adoon
Adverb
adown (not comparable)
- Alternative form of adoon
References