Downing

How to spell downing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce downing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does downing mean?

1. verbDrinking or swallowing something quickly and completely.
2. verbKnocking, shooting, or bringing something or someone to the ground.

Downing in a sentence

• He was downing a glass of water between gym sets.

• The report described the missile downing an enemy aircraft over the sea.

• She finished the meeting by downing the last of her coffee.

• The wrestler was famous for downing much larger opponents in seconds.

Where does downing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the present participle of the verb 'down', which traces back to the Old English phrase 'of dūne', meaning 'off the hill' or 'from the height'. The root noun 'dūn' meant a hill or open upland, the same word that survives in the rolling chalk hills of southern England still called the Downs. Over time 'of dūne' was worn down into the single adverb 'down', describing motion to a lower place, and from that adverb English built a verb meaning to bring or put something low. By the 1500s 'to down' could mean to swallow a drink in one go (sending it down the throat) or to knock an opponent or aircraft to the ground, and adding the ordinary '-ing' ending produces 'downing'. The spelling stays regular: keep the silent 'w' from 'down' and simply add '-ing'.

How the word is built

• down (verb root, from Old English of dūne 'off the hill, downward')
• -ing (present participle suffix)