Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
⬇️ To decrease ❌ To lose 💻 To stop working 📚 To be remembered 🚢 To sink 🌅 To set (sun) 🍽️ To be swallowed
to go down

to go down

12 3.0
To be swallowed when you eat or drink
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ daʊn/
translation icon : entrar
  • Well, you want something that goes down nicely, smooth.
  • go down easy
  • go down smoothly
  • medicine goes down

Well, you want something that goes down nicely, smooth.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The rest of her pills went down easily.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • And for as smooth as it goes down...

    Fiction book (1992)

  • It's very sweet going down, but it's got a bit of an after taste.

    Ear Biscuits

  • Oh, that goes down nice.

    Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (2022)

  • No, I'm sorry, something went down the wrong way.

    Begin Again (2014)

  • The Peach green tea went down a treat, and now it's laundry time.

  • Food goes down easier.

    Presumed Innocent (1990)

  • The first cup isn't very good, but the second cup isn't bad at all, and the third goes down splendidly.

  • A trickle of whiskey went down my throat, and I began to cough and wheeze.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The cold soup went down easily on a hot summer day.

Synonyms

to drink
vsto go down
∞ 1.0

To put liquid into the mouth and swallow it

focuses on the passage and its ease rather than the act of taking liquid
to swallow
vsto go down
295 1.0

To make food or drink move from the mouth into the stomach

emphasizes how easily or with difficulty it moves through the throat
to down
vsto go down
  • Informal
22 5.4

Eat or drink something quickly and completely

is about how it moves through the throat, stressing ease or difficulty, not speed
to wash down
vsto go down
15 4.4

To swallow food with a drink or ease a bad feeling by drinking

is about passage ease or difficulty, not the helping action of taking another drink
to get down
vsto go down
10 4.4

To manage to swallow food or medicine when it is hard

describes how easily or with difficulty food or drink moves through the throat
to suck down
vsto go down
  • Informal
9 7.7

To drink or eat something very quickly, often without pausing

focuses on how easily or with difficulty it moves through the throat, not enthusiasm
to gulp down
vsto go down
  • Informal
6 3.1

To eat or drink something quickly without stopping

describes the passage and its ease or difficulty, not greedy quickness
to pour down
vsto go down
  • Informal
2 5.7

To drink all of a glass or bottle quickly in one go

focuses on the ease or difficulty of the passage, not on continuous drinking action
to drink down
vsto go down
1 3.2

To empty a glass quickly in one long gulp

emphasizes speed and completeness rather than how easily it moves through the throat
to belt down
vsto go down
  • UK
8.5

To drink quickly, often alcohol

describes passage ease or difficulty, not just rapid alcohol consumption

Antonyms

to regurgitate
5 7.7

To bring food or liquid from the stomach back into the mouth

How Easy

to go down
12 3.0
to stick
752 3.4
to choke on
47 3.4

Surface Forms

go down infinitive
going down present participle
goes down third person singular
went down past
gone down past participle

Morphology

go + down

The sense of food or drink being swallowed is directly derived from the motion verb 'go' combined with the directional particle 'down' — literally moving downward into the throat — so the meaning is compositional. This spatial verb+particle pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would very likely infer this usage.

Etymology

Go down for food comes from the simple picture of food moving down the throat into the stomach; if it will not go it cannot pass down easily. So it means 'to be swallowed'.