TAKE DOWN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does take down mean? 

• TAKE DOWN (verb)
  The verb TAKE DOWN has 4 senses:

1. move something or somebody to a lower position

2. reduce in worth or character, usually verbally

3. tear down so as to make flat with the ground

4. make a written note of

  Familiarity information: TAKE DOWN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAKE DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move something or somebody to a lower position

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

bring down; get down; let down; lower; take down

Context example:

take down the vase from the shelf

Hypernyms (to "take down" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Cause:

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take down"):

reef (lower and bring partially inboard)

depress (lower (prices or markets))

dip (lower briefly)

incline (lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reduce in worth or character, usually verbally

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

degrade; demean; disgrace; put down; take down

Context example:

His critics took him down after the lecture

Hypernyms (to "take down" is one way to...):

abase; chagrin; humble; humiliate; mortify (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take down"):

reduce (lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation)

dehumanise; dehumanize (deprive of human qualities)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

takedown (a crushing remark)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tear down so as to make flat with the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

dismantle; level; pull down; rase; raze; take down; tear down

Context example:

The building was levelled

Hypernyms (to "take down" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take down"):

bulldoze (flatten with or as if with a bulldozer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make a written note of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

note; take down

Context example:

she noted everything the teacher said that morning

Hypernyms (to "take down" is one way to...):

get down; put down; set down; write down (put down in writing; of texts, musical compositions, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

 Context examples 

Buck watched them apprehensively as they proceeded to take down the tent and load the sled.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He said nothing at the moment, but turned to me, saying: Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port wine, and let him lie down a while.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I'll buy a book, said I, with a good scheme of this art in it; I'll work at it at the Commons, where I haven't half enough to do; I'll take down the speeches in our court for practice—Traddles, my dear fellow, I'll master it!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I answered that our horses were trained up, from three or four years old, to the several uses we intended them for; that if any of them proved intolerably vicious, they were employed for carriages; that they were severely beaten, while they were young, for any mischievous tricks; that the males, designed for the common use of riding or draught, were generally castrated about two years after their birth, to take down their spirits, and make them more tame and gentle; that they were indeed sensible of rewards and punishments; but his honour would please to consider, that they had not the least tincture of reason, any more than the Yahoos in this country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Go ahead," answered Daisy genially, "And if you want to take down any addresses here's my little gold pencil. . . ." She looked around after a moment and told me the girl was "common but pretty," and I knew that except for the half hour she'd been alone with Gatsby she wasn't having a good time.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)