downtrod
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Back-formation from downtrodden; see downtread.
Verb[edit]
downtrod (third-person singular simple present downtrods, present participle downtrodding, simple past downtrod, past participle downtrodden)
- (US) to oppress, suppress, exploit, persecute, step down on; put down; denigrate, subjugate
- Synonym: downtread
- 1935, The Cotton Oil Press, Vol.19[1], Digitized edition, published 2009, page 36:
- And I don't know of any manufacturer or any industry that wants to downtrod the farmer.
- 1967, The AOPA pilot: Volume 10, Part 1[2] (Aeronautics), Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, page 64:
- I've heard wicked rumors that FAA and wives try to downtrod small aircraft pilots.
- 2009 July 11, JF, comment, “Top House Republican slams Obama over stimulus, jobs”, in CNN[3], archived from the original on 17 February 2012:
- And having an entire group of people constantly waiting in the wings to downtrod even the slightest POSITIVE moves does not help matters.
Adjective[edit]
downtrod (comparative more downtrod, superlative most downtrod)
- (archaic or poetic) downtrodden; abused by superior power
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- I will lift the downtrod Mortimer
- 1942, Richard Armour, Yours for the Asking: A Book of Light Verse:
- Consider the lowly, downtrod worm.
References[edit]
- “downtrod”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “downtrod”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.