downhilladv.adj.n.
/ˈdaʊnhɪl/, U.S. /ˈdaʊnˌhɪl/ (otherwise, and as adverb)Brit. /ˌdaʊnˈhɪl/, U.S. /ˌdaʊnˈhɪl/ A. adv.
1. Down the slope of a hill; on a downward gradient.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [adverb]
worseeOE
waurc1175
downhilla1398
downwarda1400
worser1547
bastardlike1563
degenerously1627
degenerately1645
witheringly1815
the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adverb] > in downward direction
adowneOE
netherwardsOE
shireOE
netherOE
netherOE
netherwardOE
downOE
adownwardOE
downwardslOE
downwardc1225
downhilla1398
alowc1450
downwith1488
downside1664
dahn1849
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > slope > [adverb] > downward
downhilla1398
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. lxviii. 1220 He falleþ soone whanne he renneþ dounhille [L. contra vallem].
1561 J. Dolman tr. Cicero 5 Questions v. sig. Cvii But what shall I saye of beastes? Do not they..runne both vp hill and downe hill, when they be coursed?
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xx. 85 And for all that such motions be heauie and slow, yet they..staye the breath more, then the walking downhill doeth.
1600 E. Wilkinson Thameseidos ii. sig. D4v The clodded lumpes to water straight doth change, Making small Brookes, as downe hill it doth range.
1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Num. xiv. 24) 27 When a bowl runs down-hill, every rub, quickens it; whereas if up-hill, it would slug it.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 240 A very short Cut, and all down Hill.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 116 One of the four horses fell, in going down hill at a round trot.
1812 J. Sinclair Acct. Syst. Husbandry Scotl. i. 156 Where the land is excessively steep, it is often necessary to plough directly across, throwing the plits or furrow slices all down hill.
1871 S. Smiles Character i. 17 They broke through the French and sent them flying downhill.
1925 Morris Owner's Man. 11 Do not ‘coast’ down hill with the clutch out.
1961 W. L. Ramsey & R. E. Burckley Mod. Earth Sci. xvii. 301/2 Masses of loose rock and soil on a slope may abruptly slide downhill in a landslide.
2009 E. Pattison Lord of Death xv. 266 He wedged a stone on the accelerator and jumped out as the truck began rolling downhill.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts. Into a steadily deteriorating state or worsening situation. Frequently in to go downhill: to get worse.
ΚΠ
1610 J. Boys Expos. Dominical Epist. & Gospels 292 Men go sooner downe hil, then vp hill.
1656 W. Blake Trial of Ladies 29 A man may easily pull a man down hill, or down to Hell, but he can hardly pluck him up to Heaven.
1711 S. H. Do No Right ii. ii. 45 That he may not be suspected, he'll play sometimes upon the Square, and lose considerably; but he'll soon recover it when he thinks he has gone down-hill far enough.
1786 R. Burns Poems 24 But oil'd by thee, The wheels o' life gae down-hill, scrievin, Wi' rattlin glee.
1795 Ld. Auckland Let. 6 Sept. in Jrnl. & Corr. (1862) III. 313 It is evident that they are going downhill, as we say, and that a well-concerted opposition will end the business.
1834 W. A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. II. 54 We seem still to be placed like our primitive parents, with the tree of life before us—the devil leading us one way, down-hill, and reason the other way, upward.
1874 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 321 As he views matters, we have been steadily going down hill, in the article of our mother-tongue.
1900 49th Ann. Rep. Indiana State Board Agric. 1899–1900 373 [The pig] is fed more so he will not go down hill at a time he should be growing out of pighood into hoghood.
1949 Long Beach (Calif.) Independent 28 Aug. 14/1 It starts a vicious circle of deflation that can spiral downhill much faster than inflation spiraled uphill.
2003 N.Y. Times 20 July ix. 6/4 Ms. Couric introduced her guest as a ‘right-wing telebimbo’, and things went downhill from there.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
1. Sloping or descending downwards; situated further down a hill.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > slope > [adjective] > downward
downhill1535
declive1635
1535 J. Mason in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. II. 55 Itt [sc. Toledo] is the paynefullist towne that ever mann duellyd in. Itt is through so up hyll and downe hyll.
1657 N. Culpeper & W. Rowland tr. J. Johnstone Idea Pract. Physick i. i. 5/1 Steep down hil places..are in the summer time even suffocated with the reflexed sun-beames.
1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour v. 55 A Down-hill Green-sword.
1706 J. Gardiner tr. R. Rapin Of Gardens iii. 132 When your Rills a down-hill Course receive, Let the steep way an easie Passage give.
1794 H. P. Wyndham Picture of Isle of Wight 114 This walk to the cottage is nearly two miles,..though the beauty of its prospects, and its being a down-hill track, might invite the most indolent to undertake it.
1807 London Rev. Mar. 204/1 The coachman dexterously walks his horses the downhill slope toward the Inn-gate.
1888 Celtic Mag. June 380 They followed the scent in an eastward down-hill direction.
1907 R. Frost Let. 4 Nov. (2014) I. 55 I can't..believe that there were ever such things as the snug downhill churning room.
1941 Wyoming: Guide to Hist. & People (Federal Writers' Project) iii. 260 High on this slope are sturdy rough-board houses, still propped by heavy timbers on the downhill side.
1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 7 Nov. d18/1 Bicycle riders buzzing down the 38-mile downhill path..to the sea.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts.
a. Characterized by or involving a steady decline in a person's condition or performance; deteriorating, worsening.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > [adjective] > falling from prosperous or thriving condition
drooping1553
downhill1565
downfalling1573
declining1597
stooping1608
sinking1612
waninga1616
deliquescent1937
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [adjective] > making or tending to
downhill1565
declining1597
deformative1641
deteriorative1800
exhaustive1817
worsening1835
deteriorating1836
degenerative1846
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [adjective] > declining or deteriorating
downwardc1390
downhill1565
twilight-like1848
1565 L. Evans Brieue Admon. sig. Avi It is truthe, sayd Socrates, & no meruail, seing thowe doest drawe theym in a downe hyll pathe into pleasure.
1601 W. Cornwallis Disc. Seneca sig. B7v But how doth wisdomes moderation repine at this downe-hill headlong course?
1658 T. Bancroft Time's out of Tune ix. 62 Rather then chide them from their vices, and Cause them their down-hill danger t' understand.
1754 G. Jeffreys Misc. in Verse & Prose 52 The hours that wing'd their haste, To make his Cœlia's bloom appear, Have robb'd from Damon's prime as fast, And brought the down-hill prospect near.
1785 R. Cumberland Nat. Son iii. 39 The good lady, it must be own'd, is rather on the down-hill passage towards the vale of years.
1821 Churchman's Mag. Apr. 104/2 If, then, the human character is susceptible of this downhill progress,..it follows that there are lower stages in depravity, which are attainable only by practice in wickedness.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. II. 408 The monks had travelled swiftly on the downhill road of human corruption.
1940 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 14 Nov. 823/2 The patient ran a steady and progressive downhill course, and expired on the forty-third hospital day.
1978 D. McRoberts Second Marriage iv. 78 She and Frank had been married five years when his business took a downhill turn.
2004 L. Choyce Thunderbowl v. 40 I ran into Mr. Langford, your English teacher, and he told me you are on a downhill slide at school.
b. Of a process or period of time: free from or involving few difficulties or challenges, esp. in comparison to prior circumstances.
ΚΠ
1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII Ep. Ded. sig. A4v And it is with Times, as it is with Wayes. Some are more Up-hill and Down-hill, and some are more Flat and Plaine.
1681 J. Waite Parents Primer i. 48 An Up-hill way, is a Down-hill way to a Willing Mind.
1763 St. James's Mag. Oct. 104 The Muse..prefers this easy down-hill road, To dangerous leaps at five-barr'd Ode.
1861 E. Atherstone Israel in Egypt xv. 243 All, afterwards, Will be a downhill journey, smooth and swift.
1929 D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xxii. 253 Today won't be like yesterday. You're over the hump, and the rest of it's downhill going.
1982 Villanovan (Villanova Univ.) 16 Apr. 8/6 Never again could or would my troubles be as large. I knew that I could live my life assured that it was a downhill ride from then on.
2008 Observer (Nexis) 28 Dec. 42 Some argy-bargy in November aside, you have an easy downhill run into the new year.
3. Skiing. Of, relating to, or designating a style of skiing down mountain slopes, or a competition featuring this. Often opposed to cross-country or Nordic skiing. Cf. Alpine adj. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skiing > [adjective] > types of skiing
Alpine1903
cross-country1911
downhill1911
para-ski1942
Nordic1948
off-piste1959
heli-ski1982
back country1983
1911 Times 25 Jan. 6/4 Ski-Running... Downhill Race (2,000 ft.).—E. J. Dobson, 8 min. 43 sec.
1913 Standard 8 Jan. 19/6 British Annual Ski Meeting. The Programme... Tuesday, January 14... downhill race.
1944 N.Y. Times 31 Dec. s1/6 (headline) Miss Fraser first in downhill event.
1988 C. Chapman & R. Starkman On Edge vi. 90 The key for downhill racers is being able to ski outside their comfort zone.
2013 J. G. Norris Skiing in China viii. 82 The downhill competition started the next day.
C. n.
1. The downward slope of a hill; a decline, declivity, descent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > slope > [noun] > downward
downhielda1400
descencec1425
descent1485
descending1490
downfall1542
pitch1542
downhill1548
declinea1552
falling1565
stoop1611
declivitya1613
devergence1727
downslope1855
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke iii. f. 28v That countrey is full of vphilles and downhilles, & almost no parte of it euen, or plain chaumpian ground.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 135 Some on horsback, other on foot follow the cry..neither fearing thornes, woods, downe-hils.
1755 D. Morris Travels v. ix. 294 In the morning we set forwards: the down-hill was very easy.
1771 A. Young Farmer's Tour E. Eng. III. xxiii. 161 To the right, the down hills bear away one beyond another, forming very striking projections.
1856 J. R. Withers Poems II. 156 The long, narrow land, with its windings and crooks, Its uphills and downhills, its corners and nooks.
1877 A. Sewell Black Beauty xxix. 137 They scarcely ever put on the drag, however steep the down-hill may be, and thus bad accidents sometimes happen.
1906 F. Moss Pilgrimages to Old Homes 96 It is some miles, sure; but there is some downhills, and there's worse roads than these.
1992 SkiTrax Dec. 4/2 ‘It's not scary. It's kind of neat,’ says Taylor of the downhills he negotiates in his $2.500 wheelchair.
2004 Trailer Life Feb. 43 The Mountain Master M2 is..capable of pulling any fully-loaded fifth-wheel without driveline vibration, white-knuckle downhills or overheating.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts.
a. A course of action characterized by or involving a steady decline in a person's condition; a process of deterioration, esp. that of old age.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [noun] > downward slope
downhill1575
1575 J. Cox tr. H. Bullinger Exhort. to Ministers of Gods Woord 65 To shew, that such a man is in a downe-hill to beggerie, Salomon saith, that he thinketh himselfe very wise in his doing.
1611 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) i. ii. 25 Th' Icie down-Hills of this slippery Life.
1784 H. Cowley More Ways than One iii. 48 Why there are some prudent girls, Mr. Bellair, who have no objection to a husband a little on the down-hill of life.
1795 E. Burke Lett. Peace Regic. France iv, in Wks. (1818) IX. 119 It is not possible that the downhill should not be slid into.
1822 tr. A. de Beauchamp in Life Ali Pacha 253 Arrived at the highest point of power he was permitted to attain, he was also about to tread the slippery downhill of his ruin.
1864 M. S. Cummins Haunted Hearts viii. 119 Idle he might be, thoughtless, unthrifty,—on the down-hill of dissipation, some might add,—but capable of sudden, fearful, reckless resolve and deed,—O, no! never.
1904 Therapeutic Gaz. 15 Dec. 829/1 However slight, these cases should be taken seriously; sometimes they are the beginning of a long downhill with death at the bottom.
2014 A. Gawande Being Mortal ii. 29 Those of us in medicine don't help, for we often regard the patient on the downhill as uninteresting.
b. A process or period of time free from or involving few difficulties or challenges, esp. in comparison to prior circumstances. Chiefly in plural coupled with uphill.
ΚΠ
1644 J. Bond Salvation in Myst. 4 Having considered all these strange curcumstances & rubs in the way, all these Meanders, these up-hills & down-hills in the passage.
1789 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 26 Dec. The Poet, having..led the reader up steep hills..gives him a nice little bit of down-hill at the end of it.
1891 H. Jones Voices by Way 77 How much, too, might be said of broad and narrow roads, of rough and smooth! What might they not suggest of the uphills and downhills of our course through life!
2008 M. Trevathan & S. Goff Mirrors & Maps ii. 16 This chapter will help you look back at the uphills and downhills of the first 10 years of your life.
3. Criminals' slang. In plural. Loaded dice weighted so as to always fall with a low number facing upwards. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > die or dice > false or loaded
stop-dice1540
bar1545
flat1545
gourd1545
barred dicec1555
bristle-dicec1555
fulhamc1555
graviersc1555
high manc1555
langretc1555
low manc1555
cheat1567
dice of vantage?1577
demy1591
forger1591
squarier1592
tallmen?1592
stop cater trey1605
demi-bar1606
downhill1664
high runner1670
low runner1670
doctor1688
tat1688
uphill1699
cut1711
loaded dice1771
dispatcher1798
dispatch1819
miss-out1928
1664 J. Wilson Cheats iv. i. 46 Did not I..teach you..the use of Up-hills, Down-hills, and Petarrs?.. And generally, instructed you from Prick-penny, to Long Lawrence?
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Down-hills, Dice that run low.
1777 T. Swift Gamblers i. 42 To hedge, to fleece, to cog, or load the Die, Concave, Convex, Rugs, Down-hills, Mains, and Nicks.
1944 G. Heyer Friday's Child xiv. 158 If any man in town is to be trusted to know when he's playing with downhills it's I!
4. Skiing.
a. . A discipline of Alpine skiing in which skiers race at high speed down a mountain slope. Cf. Alpine adj. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skiing > [noun] > types of
cross-country1905
telemarking1905
ski-joring1920
downhill1926
langlauf1927
giant slalom1937
ski-touring1960
schussbooming1961
grass skiing1964
X-C (or XC) skiing1972
heli-skiing1974
ski-walking1974
randonnée1977
sit-skiing1981
off-piste1986
snowblading1993
1926 Manch. Guardian 9 Feb. 4/3 Barry Caulfield (Downhill Only), a son of the famous skier, Vivian Caulfield, was the individual winner of the slalom race.
1960 Sk-ing (‘Know the Game’ Series) 31/1 The Alpine events include downhill, slalom, and giant slalom.
1992 N.Y. Times Mag. 2 Feb. 18/3 Super G..is a hybrid of downhill and giant slalom that became an Olympic event in 1988.
2006 Esquire Mar. 120/1 These days, with turny courses and safety features, you even have slalom skiers doing downhill.
b. A downhill race or series of races. With the.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > ski racing or race > [noun] > types of
slalom1921
langlauf1927
downhill1929
giant slalom1937
slaloming1956
super giant slalom1981
Super-G1982
1929 Irish Times 30 Dec. 5/3 Cambridge..were favourites from the very first... In three of the events, the Downhill, Slalom and Jumping, they provided the individual winners.
1958 Times 28 Jan. 13/4 A. Molterer (Austria) won the downhill and slalom to finish first in the Alpine combination.
1960 Times 22 Jan. 16/3 The British women's ski running championships began here to-day with the downhill.
2010 New Yorker 15 Mar. 63/2 The day before the downhill, in a snowstorm that cancelled the training runs, some members of the U.S. team had gone out powder skiing higher on the mountain.
Phrases
downhill all the way.
a. In proverbial expressions with reference to hell, ruin, etc., indicating that it is easy to enter into sinful ways.
ΚΠ
1607 T. Tomkis Lingua v. vii. sig. K4v Follow the beaten path thou canst not misse it Tis a wide Causie that conducteth thether, An easie tract and downe hill all the way.
1686 H. Higden Mod. Ess. 13th Satyr Juvenal 51 Hell is down-hill all the way.
1703 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote III. vi. 59 The way of Vice..is a broad Road indeed, and down-hill all the way, but Death and Contempt are always met at the end of the Journey.
1878 Decatur (Illinois) Daily Rev. 13 Dec. We've been traveling the same road, it seems, all the while—the road to ruin, I mean; an easy journey, downhill all the way.
1910 Washington Post 30 Oct. 5/3 The jungle..was only a mile from hell in any direction, and down hill all the way.
2012 H. Mantel Bring up Bodies (2015) i. ii. 41 The road between England and Hell is worn bare from treading feet, and runs downhill all the way.
b. Characterized by a progressive decline in quality, status, or performance.
ΚΠ
1894 Trewman's Exeter Flying Post 28 June 5/7 From oligarchy to anarchy the road has been down hill all the way.
1942 Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gaz. 18 June 7/1 We seem to have caught up with the Japanese after their first advantage... From now on its downhill all the way for Japan.
1988 N. McFather Entangled xix. 378 Take it from one who knows. Once you step down from that pedestal for a man, it's downhill all the way.
2001 A. Dalton Midnight Museum i. 11 Joe's first day at his new school also turned out to be his best. After that it was downhill all the way.
c. Easy and straightforward, especially in comparison to prior circumstances.
ΚΠ
1938 H. Dalton in Hansard Commons 3 Oct. 140 It will be downhill all the way in his [sc. Hitler's] march to the domination of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe... Mittel Europa is in fact accomplished.
1980 Newsweek (Nexis) 21 July 48 Reagan in fact agreed to run in part on the assurance that, after New Hampshire, it would be downhill all the way.
1995 J. S. Hill Last Castrato i. 40 The first step had been the hardest. After that, it was downhill all the way.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.n.a1398