go down
Britishverb
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(also preposition) to move or lead to or as if to a lower place or level; sink, decline, decrease, etc
the ship went down this morning
prices are going down
the path goes down to the sea
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to be defeated; lose
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to be remembered or recorded (esp in the phrase go down in history )
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to be received
his speech went down well
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(of food) to be swallowed
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bridge to fail to make the number of tricks previously contracted for
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to leave a college or university at the end of a term or the academic year
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(usually foll by with) to fall ill; be infected
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(of a celestial body) to sink or set
the sun went down before we arrived
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slang to go to prison, esp for a specified period
he went down for six months
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slang to happen
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slang to perform cunnilingus or fellatio on
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Descend to a lower level; drop below the horizon, fall to the ground, or sink. For example, Don't let the baby go down the stairs alone , or The sun went down behind the hill , or I was afraid the plane would go down , or The ship went down and all hands were lost . [c. 1300]
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Experience defeat or ruin, as in They went down fighting , or The boxer went down in the first round . [Late 1500s]
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Decrease, subside, as in After Christmas prices will go down , or As soon as the swelling goes down it won't hurt as much . [Second half of 1600s]
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Be swallowed, as in This huge pill just won't go down , or Your wine goes down very smoothly . [Second half of 1500s]
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Be accepted or believed, as in How did your speech at the convention go down? When it takes an object, it is put as go down with , as in It's hardly the truth but it still goes down with many voters . [c. 1600]
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Also, go down in history . Be recorded or remembered, as in This event must go down in her book as one of the highlights of the year , or This debate will go down in history . [Late 1800s]
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Occur, take place, as in Really crazy behavior was going down in the sixties . [ Slang ; mid-1900s] Also see come down , def. 4.
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Be sent to prison, as in He went down for a five-year term . [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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In the game of bridge, fail to fulfill one's contract (that is, take fewer than the required number of tricks), as in We had bid four hearts and the bad distribution made us go down . [Early 1900s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with go down .
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.
About a quarter of participants saw their assets’ value go down to some degree, and a handful didn’t know or weren’t tracking their account value that closely.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026
If you do, they’re also likely to go down at the same time.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026
I go down to this alleyway, I hand him flyers, him and his friends.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
OG Anunoby's game-clinching tip-in to put New York on the brink of an NBA title will go down as one of the greatest plays in Knicks history, coach Mike Brown said.
From Barron's • Jun. 11, 2026
He tried to chew and finish the chicken as he walked to the door, but it refused to go down, so he spat the wadded-up food in his hand and hid it in his pocket.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
