face down
49
2.0
- phrasal verb
:
boca abajo
- Place the card back face down.
- lie face down
- place face down
- turn face down
They lie on the asphalt, face down next to the cats and dogs.
- They lie on the asphalt, face down next to the cats and dogs.
- The very next scene was Park Rangers laying dead face down in a field.
- OK, so Rhett and Link flip on over onto your stomachs, face down for these next massages.
- And he, he woke up and she was lying face down dead next to him, which is always tough.
- They took one step forward and just and now everyone of them died face down in the dirt.
- At the same time, we turn the top packet face up, but flip it back face down on top.
- The two ends are completely forced based on if it's face up or face down.
- And he was slumped over, face down, I mean out cold, completely turned white.
- So they're all and then you're just laying and they put the glass back on and you're laying in there face down.
Examples
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Hall was discovered face down on a blanket in a grove of trees.
Academic text (1993) -
The teacher asked the students to place their cards face down on the table.
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All right, I want you to lay face down, all right?
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But I found her face down in the back, by the bathroom.
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Keep your test papers face down until I tell you to turn them up.
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Take four steps forward and lay face down, arms and legs spread.
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Teachers could also return the completed survey face down in a box prior to leaving scoring training.
Academic text (2006) -
But every time we go to dinner, you lay your cell phone face-down on the table.
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Please, lie face down.
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The frightened young man lies face down on his stomach, clutching the Bible, and starts to pray.
Fiction book (1993)
How Upside-Down
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'with the front surface facing downward' is directly and transparently built from 'face' (front/principal surface) + 'down' (toward a lower position). This compositional spatial meaning follows common English particle/adverb patterns and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Face down comes from the simple image of something lying with its face pointing down, like a playing card placed face down so the picture is 'hidden'. That's why the phrase means 'with the front side down'.