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Glite Dictionary
to tramp down

to tramp down

5.6
To make soil or grass flat by walking on it hard many times
  • phrasal verb
  • /træmp daʊn/
translation icon : aplanar
  • When we first see Rambo tramping down an isolated road, he seems tired, not violent.

Examples

  • As the hikers tramped down the snow, they left a clear path behind them in the winter landscape.

  • It wasn't much, just a narrow place where the undergrowth had been tramped down and the branches pushed back enough to allow a person to slip through without too much struggle.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • As I tramp down Ash Street, Dad comes up with the car.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • One minute later, they came upon an area where the grass had been tramped down in a more or less circular shape.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • We tramped down deserted corridors and took a series of elevators that rose so high.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • They didn't actually acknowledge me, but two of the men tramped down to her while the backhoe man went for his tractor.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • She tramped down the hill, deliberately kicking her delicate white wedding slippers in the dirty gravel to get them as soiled as possible.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • She tramped down the overgrown weeds in the garden to prepare for planting new flowers.

  • The construction workers tramped down the gravel to create a solid base for the new pavement.

Synonyms

to tread
vsto tramp down
93 3.0

To step on something with your foot, often pressing down

specifies repeated heavy walking to flatten rather than occasional stepping
to trample
vsto tramp down
82 4.4

To step heavily on something and damage it

focuses on repeated flattening rather than single damaging steps
to tromp
vsto tramp down
8 6.3

To walk with heavy noisy steps that make loud sounds

highlights repeated flattening by heavy walking rather than noise or single crushes
to tread down
vsto tramp down
5.3

Make something flat by walking on it again and again

is the same action but uses a different verb form

Antonyms

raise
4 2.9

An act of lifting something to a higher position

How Forceful

to trample
82 4.4
to stamp
20 4.3
to stomp
144 2.9
to tramp down
5.6
to tread
93 3.0
to step on
95 1.0

Surface Forms

tramp down infinitive
tramped down past
tramped down past participle
tramping down present participle
tramps down third person singular

Morphology

tramp + down

The meaning 'to flatten by walking on' is directly and compositionally derived from 'tramp' (to walk heavily) plus 'down' (toward a lower or flattened position). This verb + down pattern routinely expresses motion or compression in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The verb tramp down paints a simple picture of people tramp, or walking heavily, down on grass or soil to press it flat. So, it means 'to flatten something by walking on it repeatedly'.