downer
[dou-ner]
- Informal.
- a depressant or sedative drug, especially a barbiturate.
- a depressing experience, person, or situation.
- Animal Husbandry. an old or diseased animal, especially one that cannot stand up.
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Origin of downer
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for downer
Contemporary Examples
France does not like to see it described as an AIDS documentary, which inevitably sounds like something of a downer.
New Documentary ‘How to Survive a Plague’ Details ACT UP’s Heroic Role in AIDS BattleStephen Farber
September 26, 2012
Few political watchers thought Romney would wrap anything up Tuesday, but the returns must still have come as a bit of a downer.
Seemingly, some of the cast members learned how to spot the STD, which appears to be quite the downer.
That's not to send a message that next season's going to be a downer, because it won't be.
It has led, a downer for us frequent fliers, to yet another James Patterson bestseller.
Historical Examples
Last fall I potted some of the Downer, and in the winter grew them in the house.
Locusts and Wild HoneyJohn Burroughs
Some berries shine, the Downer glows as if there were a red bloom upon it.
Locusts and Wild HoneyJohn Burroughs
Make him lively, cook him; tell him who taught you; a downer to him, and I'll marry you to-morrow!'
The Adventures of Harry Richmond, CompleteGeorge Meredith
Here was a great mortgage on the Downer farm, that the Eastmans had partly cut into city lots.
Hope MillsAmanda M. Douglas
Downer's Cleaning and Polishing Oil for bright metals, is the oldest and best in the market.
downer
- Also called: down a barbiturate, tranquillizer, or narcoticCompare upper
- a depressing experience
- a state of depressionhe's on a downer today
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for downer
n.
1966 in sense of "barbiturate;" 1970 in sense of "depressing person;" agent noun from down (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
downer
(dou′nər)- A depressant or sedative drug, such as a barbiturate or tranquilizer.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.