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downer

 [dou-ner]   Origin

down·er

   [dou-ner]
noun
1.
Informal.
a.
a depressant or sedative drug, especially a barbiturate.
b.
a depressing experience, person, or situation.
2.
Animal Husbandry. an old or diseased animal, especially one that cannot stand up.
Origin:
1910–15, Americanism, for an earlier sense; 1965–70, for def. 1; down1 + -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Downer is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
downer (ˈdaʊnə)
 
—n
1.  Compare upper Also called: down a barbiturate, tranquillizer, or narcotic
2.  a depressing experience
3.  a state of depression: he's on a downer today

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

downer
1966 in sense of "barbiturate;" 1970 in sense of "depressing person." From down (adv.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

downer down·er (dou'nər)
n.
A depressant or sedative drug, such as a barbiturate or tranquilizer.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Slang Dictionary

downer definition


and down; downie
  1. n.
    a barbiturate or a tranquilizer. (Drugs.) : Too much booze with those downers, and you're dead.
  2. n.
    a bad drug experience; a down trip. (Drugs.) : That stuff you gave me was a real downer.
  3. n.
    a depressing event; a bad situation; a down trip. : These cloudy days are always downers.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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