settle down
Britishverb
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(also tr) to make or become quiet and orderly
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(often foll by to) to apply oneself diligently
please settle down to work
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to adopt an orderly and routine way of life, take up a permanent post, etc, esp after marriage
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Begin living a stable, orderly life; also, marry. For example, After traveling all over the world for years, he decided to settle down in his home town , or Her parents wished she would settle down and raise a family . [Early 1600s]
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Become calm, less nervous, or less restless, as in Come on, children, it's time to settle down . [Mid-1800s]
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Apply oneself seriously, as in If you don't settle down to your homework, you'll never get it done . [First half of 1800s]
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.
They settled down in New Mexico, but the boyfriend was sent to Vietnam and never made it home.
From Literature
With water levels dropping, the remaining new pair that had settled down in the north of Little Sea were on the move.
From BBC
He was always full of good news, and great plans, about how once things had settled down, and he could get leave, he would come back and fetch me.
From Literature
When we could finally settle down, we slept in the bed of the spring wagon, plastered all over with oats.
From Literature
Quickly,’ he twisted one leg off the woodgrouse and tucked it into the fork of a birch tree as an offering for his clan guardian; then he settled down to eat.
From Literature
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.
