downer

See also: Downer

English

Etymology

down +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnɚ/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnə(r)

Noun

downer (plural downers)

1. (slang) A negative drug trip.

   Normally those pills give me a boost, but last night they gave me a downer.

2. (slang) A drug that has depressant qualities.
3. (slang) Something or someone disagreeable, dispiriting or depressing; a killjoy.
   • 2009, Spike Jonze, Where the Wild Things Are

     You don't really need to know me. I'm kind of a downer.

4. A livestock animal that has collapsed.
   • 1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40:

     The ten-dollar bill was for eating money and the prod pole to be used when the train stopped for water in getting "downers" back on their feet.

   • 2009, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, Hallmark/Westland Meat Recall:

     In 1993, Farm Sanctuary produced undercover footage of downers being lifted by forklift at Hallmark, prompting introduction of a California downer cattle law the next year. Either management provided instructions to get the downers moving or was asleep at the wheel and let employees run wild — in either case, it's an indictment of management.

   • 2009, Meat & Poultry - Volume 55, Issues 7-12, page lxxii:

     The two plants where I saw great reductions in downers have reduced, but not eliminated Paylean use.

Synonyms

• (something or someone disagreeable): buzzkill, killjoy, spoilsport; see also Thesaurus:spoilsport

Descendants

• German: Downer

Translations

drug

• German: Downer (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• Nedrow, Rowden, Wonder, Worden, wonder, wondre

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German

Adjective

downer

1. inflection of down:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural