downcast
An act of looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or…An act of looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty; hence (uncountable, archaic), dejection, melancholy.
» Tom looks downcast.
Meaning
6 senses(countable)An act of looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty; hence (uncountable, archaic), dejection, melancholy.
(countable)A cast (“change of expression of a data type”) from supertype to subtype.
(attributive, countable)A ventilating shaft down which air passes in circulating through a mine.
a ventilation shaft through which air enters a mine
(obsolete)Synonym of downthrow (“a depression of the strata on one side of a fault; also, the degree of downward displacement in such a fault”).
a downcast dyke
(archaic, countable, uncountable)An act, or the situation, of being cast or thrown to the ground.
(archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable)A defeat, an overthrow; also, an act of destruction or ruin.
Examples
7 sentencesTom looks downcast.
She left the room looking downcast.
deErnüchtert dreinblickend kam sie aus dem Zimmer. — Sudajaengi
I saw him skulking downcast in the bathroom.
She went out of the room with downcast eyes.
Don't look so downcast, Tom.
Origin
The adjective is derived from Middle English doun-casten, *adoun-casten (“(adjective) castThe adjective is derived from Middle English doun-casten, *adoun-casten (“(adjective) cast down, dejected; (verb) to break down (something); to overcome (someone); to overturn (something)”), from down (“in a downward direction; (figurative) to destruction”), adoun (“downward”) + casten (“to throw (something), fling, hurl; to overcome (someone), defeat, overpower; [etc.]”) (from Old Norse kasta (“to cast, throw”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw”), from *kas- (“to throw, toss; to bring up”); further etymology uncertain), modelled similarly to other constructions in Middle English such as adoun-throwen (“to throw down”) and adoun-werpen (“to throw down”)). The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“that has been thrown”, adjective).
From Middle English downcast (“misfortune”), adoun-cast (“destruction, overthrow”), from adoun (“downward”) + cast (“a throw, a cast”) (from Old Norse kast (“a throw”), from kasten (“to cast, throw”)), from Middle English casten adoun: see etymology 1. The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“act of throwing”, noun).
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