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GET DOWN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
Example:
Let's get down to work now
Synonyms:
begin; commence; get; get down; set about; set out; start; start out
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Verb group:
begin (begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get down"):
bestir oneself; get cracking; get going; get moving; get rolling; get started; get weaving (start to be active)
embark; enter (set out on (an enterprise or subject of study))
come on (occur or become available)
launch; plunge (begin with vigor)
break in (start in a certain activity, enterprise, or role)
attack (set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task)
auspicate (commence in a manner calculated to bring good luck)
get to (arrive at the point of)
jump off (set off quickly, usually with success)
fall (begin vigorously)
strike out (set out on a course of action)
recommence (begin again)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s VERB-ing
Sense 2
Meaning:
Put down in writing; of texts, musical compositions, etc.
Synonyms:
get down; put down; set down; write down
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "get down" is one way to...):
write (communicate or express by writing)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get down"):
transcribe (write out from speech, notes, etc.)
notate (put into notation, as of music or choreography)
dash down; dash off (write down hastily)
note; take down (make a written note of)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Sense 3
Meaning:
Pass through the esophagus as part of eating or drinking
Example:
Swallow the raw fish--it won't kill you!
Synonyms:
get down; swallow
Classified under:
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get down"):
bolt (swallow hastily)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lower someone's spirits; make downhearted
Example:
The bad state of her child's health demoralizes her
Synonyms:
cast down; deject; demoralise; demoralize; depress; dismay; dispirit; get down
Classified under:
Hypernyms (to "get down" is one way to...):
discourage (deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get down"):
chill (depress or discourage)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sentence example:
The performance is likely to get down Sue
Sense 5
Meaning:
Alight from (a horse)
Synonyms:
dismount; get down; get off; light; unhorse
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "get down" is one way to...):
come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)
Domain category:
horseback riding; riding (travel by being carried on horseback)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 6
Meaning:
Move something or somebody to a lower position
Example:
take down the vase from the shelf
Synonyms:
bring down; get down; let down; lower; take down
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "get down" is one way to...):
displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)
Cause:
come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get down"):
reef (lower and bring partially inboard)
depress (lower (prices or markets))
dip (lower briefly)
incline (lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP
Sense 7
Meaning:
Lower (one's body) as by kneeling
Example:
Get down on your knees!
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "get down" is one way to...):
move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP
Context examples:
Here we are at Thornfield: now let me get down.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Amy, tell Hannah to get down the black trunk, and Meg, come and help me find my things, for I'm half bewildered.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I had barely time to get down again before the coach started, and I could hardly see the family for the handkerchiefs they waved.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Sometimes, what people say in an argument has nothing to do with what they are thinking or feeling, but when you get down to it, it really is about something else.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
A helot of Agesilaus made us a dish of Spartan broth, but I was not able to get down a second spoonful.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
There’s over 100 bones there, so a whole bunch of the skeleton, and now we get to get down to the fun business of actually studying it, figuring out what it is, said Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh.
(Sea Monster Swam Oceans 170 Million Years Ago, Voanews)
"How shall we get down?" asked Dorothy.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Besides, so far as I can see it is not worth discussing, since we can't get down, even if we wanted.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They journeyed on till it began to be dusky, and then the little man said, “Let me get down, I’m tired.”
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
When we came, at last, within a stage of London, and passed the veritable Salem House where Mr. Creakle had laid about him with a heavy hand, I would have given all I had, for lawful permission to get down and thrash him, and let all the boys out like so many caged sparrows.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
