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🐎 To dismount 💼 To start seriously 🧎 To lower yourself ✍️ To write 📦 To take down 😞 To make sad 🥄 To swallow
to get down

to get down

361 3.5
To climb down from a horse or similar animal
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡɛt daʊn/
translation icon : desmontar de
  • After a long ride, the cowboy told his friends to get down from their horses.

Examples

  • She decided to get down from the saddle after the trail ride.

  • Carter, please get down from the horse carefully.

  • Get down at once, get down, get down at once, Mark!

    Hell Riders (1984)

  • "Get down off that high horse."

    The Gold Rush (1925)

  • I leave the can and the box of matches next to him and get down from the boat.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Get down from there this minute.

    Cry-Baby (1990)

  • I said, you don't get down off an elephant; you get down off a goose.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • "Get down, Mother, just get down," Jacob pleaded, for he knew that Leah too saw and heard.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Matthew, get down here!

    WWJD II: The Woodcarver (2012)

  • Chick, get down now!

    Armageddon (1998)

Synonyms

to get off
vsto get down
170 2.5

To leave a vehicle or animal by stepping down

applies specifically to getting down from a horse rather than any vehicle
to descend
vsto get down
150 2.7

Move from a higher to a lower place

refers specifically to leaving a horse rather than any downward movement
to drop down
vsto get down
34 1.8

To fall from a higher place to a lower place

is a controlled dismount from a horse rather than an uncontrolled fall
to light
vsto get down
  • Archaic
24 9.9

To come down and rest gently on a surface

is a practical act of leaving a horse not a gentle poetic settling
to dismount
vsto get down
21 4.5

To get off a horse, bicycle, or vehicle

is used only for leaving a horse rather than various vehicles
to unhorse
vsto get down
9.9

To get down from a horse carefully after riding

describes the person leaving the horse themselves rather than being caused off

Antonyms

to stay on
111 3.4

To remain in a place or job after others leave

How Carefully

to climb down
29 1.4
to alight
2 4.1
to get down
361 3.5
to dismount
21 4.5
to jump off
82 3.2

Surface Forms

get down infinitive
getting down present participle
gets down third person singular
got down past
got down past participle

Morphology

get + down

The literal meanings of 'get' (move/obtain) and 'down' (lower) give a loose metaphorical image of moving into a lower or focused position, but the specific sense 'to begin doing something seriously' (as in 'get down to business') is an extended, conventionalized meaning that is not directly predictable from the parts. This phrase follows a phrasal-verb pattern where the particle adds a metaphorical/figurative nuance, so a B1 learner who knows the words may not reliably infer the intended sense without prior exposure.

Etymology

Get down meaning 'to descend or dismount from a horse' originally described moving from a higher place to a lower one, like a rider getting down off a horse, so it now means 'to get off' or 'come down'.