beat down
Britishverb
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informal (tr) to force or persuade (a seller) to accept a lower price
I beat him down three pounds
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(intr) (of the sun) to shine intensely; be very hot
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Force or drive down; defeat or subdue. For example, “And finally to beat down Satan under our feet” ( The Book of Common Prayer , 1552). [c. 1400]
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Strike violently, as in the The sun kept beating down on us all day long . [Mid-1800s]
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beat someone down . Make someone lower a price, as in He's always trying to beat us down . Economist Jeremy Bentham used this idiom in 1793: “Thus monopoly will beat down prices.” [ Slang ; late 1700s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Palo Alto has been beaten down this year amid a broad, recurring selloff in software stocks.
From Barron's
The warm sun beat down on the motionless train, the temperature in the packed car rose, the air grew foul.
From Literature
The sun beat down on me, the heat of it on my hair, burning my scalp.
From Literature
However, recent warmer temperatures this winter and extreme wind events have beaten down the wildflowers and signaled that summer is approaching, which can deplete the bloom, according to Fraga.
From Los Angeles Times
Software stocks have been beaten down because Anthropic and OpenAI are growing rapidly and gathering users in the business community, putting many business models in the industry at risk.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
