down for the count
Decisively beaten; defeated; rendered irrelevant for the long termDecisively beaten; defeated; rendered irrelevant for the long term.
» After cutting down the tree, we counted the growth rings to see how old it was.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(idiomatic, not comparable)Decisively beaten; defeated; rendered irrelevant for the long term.
As the company grew, one after another of its smaller competitors ended up down for the count.
(figuratively, not comparable)Soundly unconscious, either because asleep or because otherwise knocked out.
A: Look at him, he's out like a light! B: Yeah, he had a long day! And now he's down for the count.
(not comparable)Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see down, for, the, count: lying upon the mat of a boxing ring while the referee counts the fighter out.
Liston was down for the count more than once before rising up to regain command of the fight.
Examples
5 sentencesAfter cutting down the tree, we counted the growth rings to see how old it was.
The small business man failed and his business went down for the count.
The boxer was hit on the chin and went down for the count.
deDer Boxer wurde am Kinn getroffen und ging so zu Boden, dass mit dem Zählen begonnen wurde. — Tamy
He was so vigorous in making love that his companion for the evening went down for the count.
I swear if you're not down here by the count of 3, I'm taking away your phone for a year!
Origin
The figurative senses are extended from the literal one.The figurative senses are extended from the literal one.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.