1.
[syn: down, downwards, downward, downwardly]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Downward \Down"ward\, Downwards \Down"wards\, adv. [AS.
ad?nweard. See Down, adv., and -ward.]
1. From a higher place to a lower; in a descending course;
as, to tend, move, roll, look, or take root, downward or
downwards. "Looking downwards." --Pope.
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Their heads they downward bent. --Drayton.
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2. From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery,
humility, disgrace, or ruin.
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And downward fell into a groveling swine. --Milton.
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3. From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from
one to another in a descending line.
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A ring the county wears,
That downward hath descended in his house,
From son to son, some four or five descents. --Shak.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
downwards
adv 1: spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower
level or position; "don't fall down"; "rode the lift up
and skied down"; "prices plunged downward" [syn: down,
downwards, downward, downwardly] [ant: up,
upward, upwardly, upwards]