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adown

adown

1 9.9
Moving downward, used after a verb like flowed or fell
  • adverb
  • Archaic
: abajo
  • He wandered adown the ancient path, lost in thought.

Examples

  • The bird flew adown from the tree.

  • Sunlight streamed adown through the tall trees in the quiet forest.

  • The gentle rain fell adown the windowpane as she watched in silence.

  • Sunlight streamed adown through the tall trees in the quiet forest.

  • The river flowed gently adown the valley.

  • The gentle rain fell adown the windowpane as she watched in silence.

  • He wandered adown the ancient path, lost in thought.

Surface Forms

adown positive

Morphology

adown = (semi-transparent) = a + down

The sense is very close to 'down', but the archaic 'a-' form is no longer a productive pattern in present-day English. [Postprocessing: moved 'down' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Adown comes from the old prefix a- meaning 'on' or 'in' plus the word down, so it simply means 'down' or 'in a downward direction'. That's why you often find it in poetry or old writing to mean moving downward in a gentle, old-fashioned way.