† downyn.1
slang (chiefly British). Obsolete.
A person who is aware, alert, or savvy; a crafty or cunning person.
ΚΠ
1821 P. Egan Life in London ii. v. 287 Mr. Mace had long been christened by the downies, the ‘dashing covey’.
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 27 Downey, a smooth, pleasant talker; a knowing fellow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
downyn.2
/ˈdaʊni/, U.S. /ˈdaʊni/ 1. A bed. Also in to do the downy: to lie in bed. slang. Now rare.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > bed > [noun]
restOE
bedc995
laira1000
couch1340
littera1400
libbege1567
pad1703
spond1763
fleabag1811
dab1812
snooze1819
downy1846
kip1879
the hay1903
Uncle Ned1925
rack1939
fart sack1943
sack1943
pit1948
uncle1982
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 117/2 Dab, a letter, doss, downey, bed.
1847 W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 58 The candidate yawned, looked at his bed,..finally..seating himself upon ‘the downy’.
1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) vii. 59 This'll never do..! Cutting chapel to do the downy!
1869 A. Trollope He knew he was Right I. xlv. 347 The Colonel was lodged safe in his downey.
1918 R. S. Peabody Let. 24 Aug. in A. R. Parsons et al. War Lett. (1921) 486 The minute the moon went down up we would dash and seek our downies.
1949 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 20 Feb. c8 The many chilly mornings when I have been dug out of my downy by the frantic ringing of Mr. Bell's device of the devil.
1968 Gloss. Brit. Argot (Paramount Pictures) Do the downy, remain in bed.
2. Chiefly North American. A young bird covered in down; a chick, a nestling.
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the world > animals > birds > young bird > [noun] > nestling(s)
nestlingc1450
birdling1611
nestler1611
broodling1673
gorlin1721
nest-matea1834
broodlet1866
downy1911
nidicole1962
1911 Auk 28 154 The downies blend so perfectly with the color of the moss that the closest scrutiny will scarcely reveal their hiding place.
1933 Condor 35 175 A late brood of four downies just out of the eggs was discovered at Sable Pass on July 20.
1987 C. Holmes in S. Ravenel New Stories from South (1988) 230 It seemed silly to think of so much secrecy over a few wobbly downies and the small white eggs there seemed to be more of every time I peeked into the supply room.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
downyn.3
/ˈdaʊni/, U.S. /ˈdaʊni/ Chiefly North American.
A downy woodpecker ( Dendrocopos pubescens).See downy woodpecker n. at downy adj.1 Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1874 T. Jasper & J. H. Studer Birds N. Amer. vii. 28/1 The Downies generally escape their enemies by their skill in running around the tree, or by concealing themselves in cracks or holes.
1913 Wilson Bull. 25 38 I submitted a specimen of the Downy of extreme western S[outh] D[akota]..to Mr. Oberholser.
1947 Audubon Mag. 240/2 The downies tap their way up the tree; the nuthatches wind their way down, head first.
1998 Audubon Mar. 18/3 When downies feed on insects in deadwood and under bark, you can barely hear the tapping.
2013 S. Sorenson Birds in Yard Month by Month 55 While downies rarely call out an alarm unless their mates can hear it, other birds take heed of the alarm as well.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
downyadj.1
/ˈdaʊni/, U.S. /ˈdaʊni/ 1. Covered with down.
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the world > plants > part of plant > hair or bristle > [adjective] > having hair
beardedc1450
downy1551
cottoned1578
friezed1578
maned1578
woolly1578
hairy1597
bristle-pointed1601
comous1657
fimbrious1657
tomentous1657
shagged1671
tomentose1698
crinated1724
villose1727
hispid1753
pubescent1760
setose1760
villous1766
lashed1776
silky1776
strigous1776
sericeous1777
awny1786
awned1787
strigose1793
shaggy1796
stupose1799
thready1804
feather-headed1821
setous1822
aristate1829
filamentous1835
fimbriate1836
puberulent1841
puberulous1841
sericated1848
barbate1853
strigillose1857
fimbrilliferous1866
ciliolate1870
fimbrillose1884
strigulated1899
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > villosity or ciliation > [adjective] > hairiness > woolly or downy
downy1551
tomentous1657
tomentose1698
lanate1760
velutinous1826
fluffy1848
lanose1852
flocculent1870
1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. C.vi The stalke [of anemone] is all downye and roughe and small, whereon grow floures lyke poppy.
1592 R. Dallington tr. F. Colonna Hypnerotomachia f. 91 Beardles Louers, scarce hauing downy cheekes, pleasantly deuising with them matters of Loue.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) v. v. 12 So doth the Swan her downie Signets saue. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 8 For downy Peaches and the glossie Plum.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Peonie The Leaves are indented, downy on the Backside.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. i. xi. 60 The idle and childish Liking of a Girl to a Boy..is often fixed on..flowing Locks, downy Chins, dapper Shapes.
1837 E. Bulwer-Lytton Ernest Maltravers I. i. v. 62 Happiness and health bloomed on her downy cheeks.
1859 Harper's Mag. Jan. 269/1 The boy's chin was yet downy.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 505 This downy skin, these soft muscles, this tender flesh.
1990 Times 10 Dec. 12/2 On wayfaring trees, there are clusters of thin black seeds on the downy twigs.
2003 P. H. Sinclair et al. Birds of Yukon Territory 259/2 A downy chick.., and a well-feathered chick.
2. Resembling or consisting of down; of the nature of down.
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the world > matter > constitution of matter > softness > types of softness > [adjective] > soft and fluffy
mossy1561
downy1578
mosy1578
thrummy1597
cotton wool1648
cottonary1658
cottonous1664
cottony1664
tozy1706
flewsey1712
fuzzy1713
furzy1720
floscular1822
fuffy1824
fluffy1825
flossy1845
flocculent1870
furry1876
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball v. xiv. 566 The flowers of milke Thistel..change into rounde cotton or downie bawles.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Bbv On his tender lips the downy heare Did..freshly spring.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. iii. 163 There lies a dowlny [emended to downy (1734, etc.)] feather which stirs not. View more context for this quotation
1631 D. Widdowes tr. W. A. Scribonius Nat. Philos. (new ed.) 35 The Quince..his fruit hath downie hayre.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Lanigerous Trees, those sort of Trees that bear a woolly, downy Substance; as..Poplars, Willows, and Osiers.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the First 3 Sleep..Swift on his downy pinion flies.
1833 J. Forbes et al. Cycl. Pract. Med. I. 492/1 Cotton, rendered downy by carding, and made into a roll an inch long, and from half an inch to two inches in diameter.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxvi. 85 Thick downy feathers, taken from the breasts of various birds.
1949 Amer. Speech 24 98 There is a species of goat from the mountains of northern China characterized by pelts of downy underhair.
1996 F. Popcorn & L. Marigold Clicking ii. 109 The deep freeze tends to throw us back to some Flintstone instinct—when man and woman survived by wrapping their bodies in downy fur.
2015 New Yorker 29 June 7/2 Among their treasures: slippers covered in downy feathers.., and dolls with wooden-bead heads.
3. Soft as down; comfortable like down.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > softness > [adjective] > soft like specific thing or material
uddery1398
butteryc1450
carnose1562
silk-soft1570
downy1583
linty1607
flower-softa1616
lawny1615
unwoody1635
snow-like1663
pillowy1769
eider1789
puddingy1825
cushiony1839
sarcoid1841
cushioned1861
marshmallowy1993
1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus (new ed.) sig. Z My plentie hath bred me pouertie: my faire and sunnie downye day, hath all beburnt my hewe.
1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge iii. ii. sig. F Ile..couch My heade in downie moulde.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. iii. 76 Shake off this Downey sleepe, Deaths counterfeit. View more context for this quotation
1650 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans 51 Sweet downie thoughts; soft Lilly-shades, calm streams.
1702 C. Beaumont J. Beaumont's Psyche (new ed.) xvi. clx. 254 Whilst fooled Thou..Lin'st thy Commands with silken downy Ease.
1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fifth 27 Time steals on with downy Feet.
1806 T. Moore Genius of Harmony i. 19 Such downy dreams, As lap the spirit of the seventh sphere.
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 290 A warmer beauty and a downier depth.
1884 Muscatine (Iowa) Daily Jrnl. 29 Jan. This fearful secret of life, which condemns one man to a hand-to-hand fight with hunger..and laps the other in downy luxury.
1941 Altoona (Pa.) Mirror 27 May 15/4 The rustle of leaves and the sway of the trees..Settled over my soul as a downy dream And made all things seem right.
2014 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 16 Feb. (Moneywise section) 10/2 I'd be comfortable owning 500 shares of Gateway, not..because Gateway will eventually wake from its downy slumber.
4. Of a bed, pillow, etc.: made of or filled with down.
ΚΠ
a1592 R. Greene Comicall Hist. Alphonsus (1599) iv. sig. G3v Mars lies slumbring on his downie bed.
1642 F. Kinnaston Leoline & Sydanis 95 As Pluto erst took Proserpine away:..Hath on a downy Couch layd her to sleepe, With Orenge blossoms strow'd.
1714 A. Pope Rape of Lock (new ed.) i. 2 Belinda still her downy Pillow prest.
1820 Sporting Mag. 6 79 The morning was truly forbidding for the swells to leave their downy dabs.
1852 A. Pratt Our Native Songsters 60 The swallow..constructs a solid dwelling of clay, thickened with straws and feathers, and well lined with a downy quilt.
1933 N.Y. Times 5 Nov. 12/2 (advt.) Beautifully tailored upholstery, downy cushions that you sink into gently. (Cushions 56% down, 35% feathers).
1977 Film Comment Nov. 51/3 There' s a bed in my room, even sheets, but I'd have preferred hay and a downy quilt.
2011 Ottawa Herald 19 Feb. s9/1 He raised his handsome head from his downy pillow and laughed pleasantly at some remark he had just made himself.
Compounds
C1. Parasynthetic, adverbial, and complementary, as downy-cheeked, downy-clad, downy-feathered, downy-fruited, downy-looking, downy-white, downy-winged adjs.
ΚΠ
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 438 The feeble downie feathered Yong.
1608 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 60 Some downie-clad, some (fledger) take a twig To pearch-vpon, some hop, from sprig to sprig.
1662 C. Merrett tr. A. Neri Art of Glass 266 The Vine-branches, and Sow-thistles, which are somewhat prickly and downy flower'd.
1786 J. Abercrombie Arrangem. Plants 35/2 in Gardeners Daily Assistant Sand willow, downy leaved.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. ix. 553 To make me downy-cheek'd as in my youth.
1816 P. B. Shelley Dæmon of World in Alastor 82 Downy-winged slumbers.
1855 Harper's Mag. June 92/1 A soft downy-looking, fair, placid woman, with long hair looping down like ears.
1909 S. Lewis Song to Calif. in G. H. Lewis With Love from Gracie (1955) ii. xii. 105 Nestling like a chirping playbird, Low and downy-winged and brown.
2000 Oxf. Amer. May 17/3 A woman, her hands submerged in a drift of downy-white flour, is cutting in pure, pearly leaf lard.
2008 Winnipeg Free Press 25 Jan. d10/2 Downy-cheeked innocence.
C2. In names of plants having leaves or other parts covered with down, as †downy ling, downy oat-grass, downy willow, etc.
ΚΠ
1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. G.viiv Vitis syluestris..maye be called in Englishe Heguine or Downiuine.
1787 R. W. Darwin Principia Botanica 236 Hawkweed, Woolly; or Downy sowthistle.
1839 G. W. Francis Little Eng. Flora 88 Downy Woundwort, the leaves of which are quite white and downy.
1847 J. W. Abert in W. H. Emory Notes Mil. Reconnaissance (1848) 387 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (30th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Exec. Doc. 41) IV Here we noticed the white hickory, or downy hickory.
1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names Downy Ling, Eriophorum polystachyon, L. Ayrsh[ire].
1905 A. D. Hall Bk. Rothamsted Exper. 157 On Plot 17 ([treated with] nitrate) deep-rooting grasses like Meadow Foxtail and Downy Oat Grass are prominent.
1999 Daily Mail (Nexis) 13 Apr. 36 Plants wiped out in the past 50 years include the corncockle, the downy hemp-nettle, the summer lady's tresses, [etc.].
2014 G. Hemery & S. Simblet New Sylva 124/1 The most common willow in these scrubs is downy willow (Salix lapponum).
C3.
downy birch n. a deciduous tree with greyish-white bark and hairy leaf stalks, Betula pubescens, widespread in upland and moorland regions of Europe and western Asia.
ΚΠ
1842 C. W. Johnson Farmer's Encycl. 200/2 The third species is the downy birch (Betula pubescens), a smaller species than the first, found in the bogs of Germany.
1996 Forestry 69 357 Downy birch does well on moist to wet sites.
2005 C. Tudge Secret Life Trees i. 25 Downy birch presumably arose from silver birch, but now, following polyploidy, it is very clearly a separate species.
downy mildew n. a disease of plants caused by parasitic fungi (oomycetes) of the family Peronosporaceae, typically characterized by discolouration of leaves with formation of mould on the undersurface; (also) a fungus of this family.Each type of downy mildew is usually specific to a narrow range of host plants. See also Peronospora n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > various diseases
footrot1706
botrytis1751
leaf spot1846
winter rot1857
leaf blotch1860
downy mildew1886
sun scald1896
Septoria1897
spike-disease1906
fusarium rot1907
hadromycosis1916
verticillium wilt1916
wilt1916
die-off1918
rhynchosporium1918
shoestring rot1931
vascular wilt (disease)1946
1886 Rep. Fungus Dis. Grape Vine (U.S. Dept. Agric. Bot. Div. Bull. No. 2) 7 The fungus diseases of the grape vine... I.—The downy mildew.
1938 G. B. Ramsey et al. Market Dis. Fruits & Veg.: Crucifers & Cucurbits (Misc. Publ. U.S. Dept. Agric. No. 292) 42 The causal fungus, Peronoplasmopara cubensis, is one of the downy mildews.
1970 Times 14 July 10/6 The aim was to produce a variety resistant to downy mildew.
2015 L. A. Ten Eyck & D. Gehring Hop Grower's Handbk. i. 38/1 A couple of growing seasons later we found ourselves waging a war against downy mildew.
downy woodpecker n. a small North American woodpecker, Dendrocopos pubescens, with black and white plumage and, in the male, a red patch on the back of the head.
ΚΠ
1785 T. Pennant Arctic Zool. II. 274 (heading) Downy Woodpecker.
1808 A. Wilson Amer. Ornithol. I. 153 Downy Woodpecker. Picus Pubescens..is the smallest of our Woodpeckers.
1948 Pacific Discov. Mar. 18/1 A harsh spick! note tells of a downy woodpecker in the neighborhood.
2015 L. Erickson & M. Read Into Nest 77/2 Not migratory, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers tend to spend their lives in a relatively small area.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
downyadj.2
/ˈdaʊni/, U.S. /ˈdaʊni/ Of the nature of downs or downland; characterized by downs. Cf. down n.1 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > hill > [adjective] > characterized by
cloudyc893
hilly?a1475
hillous1550
downy1671
knobby1834
1671 St. Foine Improved 8 The Downy and dry parts of England and Wales.
1706 tr. E. Y. Ides Three Years Trav. Moscow to China 58 We passed on over Sandy and Downy Land, on which was a low Hill.
1749 W. Ellis Compl. Syst. Improvem. Sheep i. ii. 4 In the West, they make it the greatest Part of their Business to breed Sheep..on their dry open Field and downy Lands.
1790 Coll. Voy. round World III. i. 817 The land..was of the downy kind, without a single tree.
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park II. vii. 144 I was suddenly, upon turning the corner of a steepish downy field, in the midst of a retired little village.
1867 J. L. Motley Let. 20 Aug. in Corr. (1889) II. viii. 283 A rolling, downy country.
1936 H. J. Massingham Eng. Downland i. 8 I have passed day after day wandering the downy solitudes.
1987 Ö. Svensson Saxon Place-names East Cornwall 148 It was not the downy uplands that were the primary objectives of the Saxon colonists when they first entered the Tamar valley.
2005 Times Reporter (Dover, Ohio) 30 June 8/2 The Wayne estate seems to be in downy England, but it's also near Gotham City.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
downyadj.3
/ˈdaʊni/, U.S. /ˈdaʊni/ slang (chiefly British).
Aware, alert, savvy; cunning, crafty.In later use often with bird, with punning allusion to downy adj.1
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > [adjective]
sharpc888
yepec1000
spacka1200
yare-witelc1275
fellc1300
yap13..
seeinga1382
far-castinga1387
sightya1400
perceivinga1425
snellc1425
politic?a1439
quickc1449
pregnant?a1475
pert1484
quick-wittedc1525
apt1535
intelligentc1540
queemc1540
ready-witted1576
political1577
of (a) great, deep, etc., reach1579
conceited1583
perspicuous1584
sharp-witteda1586
shrewd1589
inseeing1590
conceived1596
acute1598
pregnate1598
agile1599
nimble-headed1601
insighted1602
nimble1604
nimble-witted1604
penetrant1605
penetrating1606
spraga1616
acuminous1619
discoursing1625
smart1639
penetrativea1641
sagacious1650
nasute1653
acuminate1654
blunt-sharpa1661
long-headed1665
smoky1688
rapid1693
keen1704
gash1706
snack1710
cute1731
mobile1778
wide awake1785
acuminated1786
quick-minded1789
kicky1790
snap1790
downy1803
snacky1806
unbaffleable1827
varmint1829
needle-sharp1836
nimble-brained1836
incisivea1850
spry1849
fast1850
snappy1871
hard-boiled1884
on the spot1903
1803 Proc. Old Bailey 14 Sept. 497/1 He held down his head, and looked very downy, and went the wrong way.
1838 W. M. Thackeray Yellowplush Corr. ii, in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 44/1 I'm genraly considered tolerably downy.
1873 M. E. Braddon Strangers & Pilgrims iii. v. 20 Hilda, you're the downiest bird—I beg your pardon, the cleverest woman I ever met with.
1907 Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches 24 38 But I say, George, what a downy card you are! Now, aren't you?
1945 D. V. Duff Little Ship v. 58 Harper and Samways are a couple of downy birds, otherwise they'd never have been sent on the job they've been doing.
1973 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 22 July 14/2 There were a few Chinese who could speak English but..these proved to be the downy type who were filled with cunning.
2003 Times 5 Mar. 2/6 Speaker Martin, downy old bird that he is, wasn't going to take this sitting down.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11821
n.21846n.31874
adj.11548adj.21671adj.31803