take-down n.
1. (also take-down job, take-you-down) a swindle, a deception; also attrib.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 98: MONTE [...] a take-down game of cards, commonly known as the three-card trick. [Ibid.] 155: A jockey pulling his master’s horse, or a footracer or pugilist deliberately losing when the backers staked on them is also a take down. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 24 Jan. 5/3: [headline] A Terrace Take-Down [...] To sum Breedon Hames up briefly, he is a swindler. | |
| ‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 10 Jan. 11/5: ‘[W]ot do you think o’ that ’surance idee— is it a nick fer a cove, or a fair take-yer-down?’. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Mop Fair 144: There are more takedowns at this game of racing than are suspected. | |
| Shearer’s Colt 160: The only man I ever knew that wasn’t on the take-down, or on the make, and that wouldn’t tell you lies. | |
| Aussie Swearers Guide 55: Take Down. A fraud. When an Aussie con man (trickster) does a take-down job on you, you have been caught with your tweeds (trousers) and underchunders (underpants) down. | |
| Lingo 147: A take-down was a swindle, living on as a take and i’ve been taken. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 206: take/take-down A swindle or swindler. ANZ late C19. |
2. (also take-me-down) a deceiver, a swindler, a cheat; also attrib.
| Signor Lippo 73: Good on yer, Sammy, you’re a fair take down, mogued us all. | |
| Capricornian (Rockhampton) 6 Feb. 30/4: He’s [i.e. a racehorse] a bit of a take down. | |
| Houndsditch Day by Day 119: ‘He was a fair take-down,’ ejaculated the prompter. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Oct. 31/1: [W]hen the landlord went round with his ‘bargain’ to the pawnbroker he found that the ‘take-down’ had substituted for the good ring an imitation not worth a dollar. | |
 | Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills) 17 Apr. 1/6: Rooks! perhaps that wants explainin, / They are take-down blokes, you know; / Them what owns the dead and stiff ’uns / Them what aint got any show. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 5 Feb. 4/7: A nice blanky take-me-down you are to palm off a pair of right foot-boots on a pore worken man. | |
| Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 39: Brush ’em off girls; they ain’t no good t’ yeh. They’re deliberit take-downs, who’ve planned a way out afore enterin’ into the flirtation. | |
| Timely Tips For New Australians 22: TAKE-DOWN. — A slang word for thief. A cheat. | |
| Williamstown Chron. (Vic.) 6 Dec. 52/1: Old Baitum was a real old take-down [...] He took my old mother down for two hundred quid. | |
| Shearer’s Colt 128: All sorts of take-downs have got wind of him, and they’re hanging round the pub trying to get him to put his money into things. | |
| see sense 1. |
3. a shock, a surprise.
| Mirror of Life 10 Feb. 2/4: A vocalist was given quite a take-down here a few evenings since. Whilst she was doing her turn on the stage in tights her father arose in the pit and ordered her to clothe herself properly. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 27 Jan. 3/4: It was a bit of a take-down to the countrified stableman, promoted to under butler for the evening, to behold his mistress and three lady friends playing cards [...] in the sanctity of the boudoir. |
4. (US) a win, e.g. in gambling.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Out for the Coin 32: That was the evening I win $8 [...] It was my first take-down in six weeks. |
5. (US) the culmination of a police operation, an arrest (and a search of premises).
| Brotherhood of Corruption 149: [T]he radio marked a successful buy, and the enforcement teams were being called on for a takedown. | |
| Alphaville (2011) 8: My shirt [...] front’s bloody from the takedown. | |
| The Force [ebook] Shit, you want to talk about the robberies he stopped [...] The busts, the takedowns, the convictions? | |
| We Own This City 191: [Special Agent] Jensen considered a number of options for the takedown operation. The arrest teams could make predawn entry into the officers’ homes, the way most arrests are made. |
6. the culmination.
| Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] [I] drove my knee into his nut bag for the takedown. |