stand down

See also: stand-down and standdown

English

stand down (third-person singular simple present stands down, present participle standing down, simple past and past participle stood down)

(idiomatic) To wait; to stop pursuing, stop fighting, or relax from a heightened readiness posture.
Antonyms: square off, square up

They ordered the troops to stand down for the moment.
(ambitransitive) To withdraw or retire from a position or from a team.
Synonyms: resign, stand aside, step down
- 2023 November 16, “Qantas illegally stood down worker who stopped cleaning of planes at start of Covid pandemic”, in The Guardian‎^[1], sourced from Australian Assocated Press, →ISSN:
  The criminal case was launched after the aviation giant’s subsidiary stood down a trained health and safety representative hours after he directed others to cease work.
- 2023 November 29, “Last remaining DB Cargo Class 60s face final workings in December”, in RAIL, number 997, page 19:
  The remaining four locomotives in traffic […] are all expected to be stood down due to their high engine hours, as well as being due exams which the company is not prepared to undertake.
- 2025 September 5, Pippa Crerar, “Angela Rayner resigns over stamp duty row”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Angela Rayner has stood down from the government after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat.