Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see under chops n.¹

to feel depressed, esp. at the prospect of prison or judicially sanctioned death, to sink beneath one’s problems.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: This expression is used by thieves to signify that their companion did not die game, as the kiddy dropped down when he went to be twisted; the young fellow was very low spirited when he walked out to be hanged.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 236: down: To drop down upon yourself, is to become melancholy, or feel symptoms of remorse or compunction, on being committed to jail, cast for death, &c. To sink under misfortunes of any kind. A man who gives way to this weakness, is said to be down upon himself.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1812].
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.

to make someone depressed.

1931		F.A. Waterhouse ’Twixt Hell & Allah 261: ‘[K]eep going and don’t let ‘em get you down’.
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 107: It got me down [...] sitting there with a gun pointed at my head.
1940		F.S. Fitzgerald ‘Teamed with Genius’ in Pat Hobby Stories (1967) 72: This one has got me down.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 188: People talk, but you can’t let what they say get you down.
1965		E. Bond Saved Scene ii: Livin’ like that must ’a got yer down.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 148: Don’t let it get you down.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 457/1: late C.19–20.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 73: Nothing could get her down the way Wesker had her liquored up.

(US black) open, honest, candid.

a.1955		‘Good-Doing Wheeler’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 78: I’ve come down front, ’cause there’s something I want.
1975		W.D. Myers fast sam, cool clyde, and stuff 152: If you were asking her about something off the wall she would bring it right down front. And if you were saying one thing and meant something else, she would bring that down front, too.

see also separate entries.

see under dead man n.

a prostitute who does not resort to thieving.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Buttock and Twang, or a downright Buttock and sham File, c. a Common Whore but no Pickpocket.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Buttock and Twang, or a downright Buttock and sham File, c. a Common Whore but no Pickpocket.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785].

a coy ref. to the vagina; occas. the penis.

1917		Jung q. in Psychoanalytic Rev. 4 62: The other case is of a young girl who complained [that] a peculiar sensation was produced in her genitals ‘as though there was eating and drinking down there’ (Jung, II, 190).
1936		Psychoanalytic Qly 3 1:2 400: ‘Flo is there in front. You get a black tube down there. Flau is on the back side, with a short red tube’.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 141: The only thing that bothered her was that she seemed to grow larger down there with each abortion.
1974		J. Lahr Hot to Trot 25: Would you touch me down there?
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 99: Cunt. c-u-n-t. It was a word Brenda used [...] Not Mary Margaret. ‘Down there,’ Mary Margaret said, and she meant down there on him as well as on her.
1982		Maledicta VI:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 147: From them she might pick up and more to startle than identify with her [lesbian] sisters use words and expressions such as [...] tourist (not in the life but down there on a visit, etc.).
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 237: I’ll shave first. You know . . . down there.
2001		C. Stella Eddie’s World 18: And maybe he’s bigger than me down there.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 27: She said Kate had a lot of trauma—down there, you know? [Ibid.] 173: Drew asked if she kissed me ‘down low’ better than he does.
2013		Misadventures On Line 10 Nov. 🌐 Adventures in Medical School. Look, I’m in training to be a doctor. I know extensively what’s going on ‘down there’.
2014		M. Sheridan ‘102 Over 110’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] [W]hen you touched Linda down there she would moan just from the touching.

1. (US) down to the hard facts; to a final reckoning; usu. as come down... / get down..

1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 48: This yere brings things down to cases.
1907		Seattle Repub. (WA) 25 Jan. 5/3: It took the Senate committee on railroads but a few hours after getting down to caases to discover that Pie-maker had been barking up the right tree.
1911		‘Sing Sing No. 57,700’ My View on Books in N.Y. Times Mag. 30 Apr. 5/4: The Three Musketeers Alexander Dumas [...] when he got to pushing the pen across the paper he got down to cases right away.
1913		Day Book (Chicago) 2 Apr. 3/1: They probably are pretty sure they can control the legislature if it comes down to cases.
1922		H.L. Wilson Merton of the Movies 194: Listen here, Jeff – I’m down to cases. There’s something about this kid.
1994		T. Wolff In Pharoah’s Army 126: [T]he eagerness to show you that even if they do know how to have a good time they can by God get down to cases too.

2. (US Und.) down to one’s last pennies.

1949

Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

see under seam n.

see on one’s/the short strokes under short strokes n.

knock him down!

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Apple Cart. Down with his Apple cart. Knock or throw him down .
1840		Era (London) 18 Oct. 5/4: Now then, one two, three, and ‘down goes your apple cart.‘ — Alderman White: What does he mean [...] — The Offcer: He meant your worship that he would knock any man down who stood in his way.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1893		Sporting Times 7 Jan. 1/2: Bring me a Hamburg steak, and bring it quick or up goes your apple-cart.