Down"ward (?), Down"wards (?), adv. [AS. adnweard. See Down, adv., and -ward.]
1. From a higher place to a lower; in a descending course; as, to tend, move, roll, look, or take root, downward or downwards. "Looking downwards."
Pope.
Their heads they downward bent.
Drayton.
2. From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin.
And downward fell into a groveling swine.
Milton.
3. From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line.
A ring the county wears,
That downward hath descended in his house,
From son to son, some four or five descents.
Shak.
© Webster 1913.
Down"ward, a. 1. Moving or extending from a higher to a lower place; tending toward the earth or its center, or toward a lower level; declivous.
With downward force
That drove the sand along he took his way.
Dryden.
2. Descending from a head, origin, or source; as, a downward line of descent.
3. Tending to a lower condition or state; depressed; dejected; as, downward thoughts.
Sir P. Sidney.
© Webster 1913. | 
