to beat down
1
4.9
- phrasal verb
- /biːt daʊn/
- Informal
:
regatear
- The sun beats down, and the music lies.
- beat her down on the price
Examples
-
She wanted 75 francs, but I beat her down.
-
The whole first half we beat down big bad Peyton Manning and his boys, then the ridiculousness happens.
Blog text (22) -
We just go in there, we beat him down, we take the meth, we get out of there - it's easy.
-
Only then do I feel the sun beat down on my face and see the green glass crushed to fine powder on Kene's breasts.
Fiction book (1997) -
But he's had my back ever since he beat down Billy "the bull" turrow, who used to give me a daily thumping for as long as I can remember.
-
Joey beat her down on the price of some old mythology book he wanted for the illustrations; to atone, I picked The Book of Great Conversations off the twenty-five-cent table and told her it was off the dollar table.
Fiction book (1991) -
She puttered endlessly in the kitchen and bore my ministrations with a girlish resistance that she usually allowed me to beat down.
Fiction book (1992) -
I managed to beat down the price of the car to $10,000 after some negotiation.
-
After a long discussion, she finally beat down the cost of the repairs to a reasonable amount.
-
He always knows how to beat down prices during market sales by haggling with vendors.
Synonyms
1
4.0
To persuade someone to accept a lower price than first offered
1
2.1
To tell a seller you want a lower price
Antonyms
How Cheap
10
4.8
- Informal
1
4.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
beat + down
The sense ‘shine/fall very strongly’ can be related to 'beat' (to strike) combined with 'down' (toward a lower direction): the sun or rain is metaphorically ‘striking down’ on something, so a learner who knows both words can plausibly infer the meaning. However, this requires a metaphorical mapping from physical striking to weather intensity rather than a purely literal composition, so comprehension is likely partial and depends on exposure to this usage.
Etymology
Beat down comes from market bargaining. Imagine a buyer who keeps beating the seller with offers until the price goes down, like knocking the price lower, so it means 'to get someone to lower the price'.