downer
(ˈdaʊnə(r))
1. Colloq. var. down n.3 5.
| 1915 C. Mackenzie Guy & Pauline i. 46, I knows better than go for to contradict him when he gets a downer on any plant. 1936 S. Sassoon Sherston's Prog. iii. 224 He asserted that I'd got ‘a downer’ on some N.C.O. |
2. slang. a. A drug (esp. a barbiturate) that has a depressant or tranquillizing effect. Cf. upper n.2 1.
| 1966 Observer 25 Sept. 21/6 You know what the young take now? They take ‘downers’. They want to feel depressed! 1969 Fabian & Byrne Groupie (1970) xi. 80, I asked him to describe the kind of pill he had taken, and realized from the description that he had taken a downer instead of a keep-awake. 1971 Last Whole Earth Catal. 97/3 Estelle had dosed herself heavily on downers. 1973 D. Lang Freaks xxvii. 94 None of us touched any psychedelics. It was just grass, hash, and opium, with some recourse to downers, especially valium, when one was too exhausted from doing nothing to be able to sleep. 1977 Rolling Stone 30 June 81/3 I'd already ingested the downers which would very quickly be taking me into dreamy nether regions. 1983 Daily Tel. 10 Nov. 15/6 Those that shoot dope are soon stoned and on the habit, junkies liable to write their own scripts and thieve your downers and perhaps your chinky. |
b. fig. A depressing person or experience; a failure; a downward trend, esp. in business or the economy. Cf. upper n.2 2. orig. U.S.
| 1970 Harper's Mag. Mar. 69/1 Depressing people were ‘downers’. 1970 Melody Maker 12 Sept. 29 A downer, a depressing experience. 1971 Oz May 6/1 When I was in gaol they cut my hair, and that really was a downer. For four or five days I couldn't eat or sleep. I couldn't do nothing. 1975 New Yorker 19 May 114/2 The ‘Giselle’ is a downer, too, longer and slower than ever, but at least it isn't marred by witless novelty. 1976 Forbes (N.Y.) 1 Jan. 178/1 In the case of both the uppers and the downers, it would be a good idea to examine the companies more closely to see how meaningful these one-year trends are. 1977 Business Week 21 Nov. 119 The general market swoon could fall still more during the usual late-December sell-off, when investors are converting their downers to tax losses. 1982 T. Barr Acting for Camera iii. xxii. 154 The role of a downer should not be a downer to watch. |