downer

See also: Downer

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnɚ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From down +‎ -er.

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.
   • 2024 April 10 [2020 August 27], Nick B., “Which Drugs Are Uppers And Downers?”, in The Freedom Center‎:

     Say, for example, a person starts with the use of a downer that reduces any anxiety and produces a sense of relaxation. When their energy levels drop, they take a stimulant in order to continue participating in the party or another event. This creates a cycle that could lead to significant drug use and drastically increases the risk of overdose or death. It is critical to know which drugs are uppers and downers to avoid this combination.

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.

   • 2010, Nicole LaPorte, The Men Who Would Be King:

     Geffen had never understood why such a downer of a film was being released over the holidays.

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.

5. A form of industrial action in which workers down tools and refuse to work.
   • 1978, C. T. B. Smith, Great Britain. Dept. of Employment, Manpower Papers (issue 15, page 158)

     In the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, a strike may be a downer or a stoppage as defined by the Department.

   • 1985, Alex Callinicos, Mike Simons, The Great Strike: The Miners' Strike of 1984-5 and Its Lessons:

     Cowley experienced a rash of 'downers' — short, sharp, unofficial strikes.

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• Debbie Downer
• Far-Downer
• sit-downer

Descendants

• German: Downer

Translations

drug

Bulgarian: успокоително (bg) n (uspokoitelno) German: Downer (de) m Maori: (pūroi) haupēhi Swedish: nedåttjack n

bummer — see bummer

Etymology 2

Perhaps related to tanner (“sixpence”).

Noun

downer (plural downers)

1. (UK, slang, obsolete) A sixpence.
   • 1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:

     The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

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

German

Adjective

downer

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