downcast

adj

1. Of the eyes, a facial expression, etc.: looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty.

   “Briefly then heere Dido, with downe caſt phiſnomie, parled.”

   “[A]s before Empire and Arts made vvay, / (For no leſſe Harbingers vvould ſerve then they) / So they might ſtill, and point us out the place / VVhere firſt the Church ſhould raiſe her dovvn-caſt face.”

   “'Tis Love, ſaid ſhe; and then my dovvn-caſt eyes, / And guilty dumbneſs, vvitneſs'd my ſurprize.”

   “VVhile Thy abandon'd Tribes ſhall only knovv / A diff'rent Maſter, and a Change of VVoe: / VVith dovvn-caſt Eye-lids, and vvith Looks a-ghaſt, / Shall dread the Future, or bevvail the Paſt.”

   “Suppreſs your ſigh, your dovvn-caſt eyelids raiſe, / VVhom preſent you revere, him abſent praiſe.”

2. Of a person or thing: cast or thrown to the ground.

   “VVhere liues all vvoe? conduct him to vs three, / The dovvne-caſt ruines of calamitie.”

   “[…] Dovvncaſt Lucifer revolves his State, / VVith his fall'n Angels ſits in Dark Debate, / And from This Conſtellation bodes his Fate.”

3. Of a thing: directed downwards.
4. (figuratively)Of a person: feeling despondent or discouraged.

   “His fine and lovely eyes were now lighted up with indignation, now subdued to downcast sorrow and quenched in infinite wretchedness.”

5. (figuratively)Of a person or thing: defeated, overthrown; also, destroyed, ruined.

noun

1. (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”

2. (countable)An act of looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty; hence (uncountable, archaic), dejection, melancholy.

   “[C]ome lets be ſad my girles, / That dovvne caſt of thine eye Olimpias, / Shovves a faind ſorrovv; […]”

   “I ſavv the reſpectful Dovvncaſt of his Eye, vvhen you catcht him gazing at you during the Muſick: He, I vvarrant, vvas ſurpriz'd, as if he had been taken ſtealing your VVatch. O! the undiſſembled Guilty Look!”

   “And at every such aid, there was a smile to pay; not to mention the downcast of eyes sometimes, and sometimes their uplifting with a soft, sweet light, and the fluttering of lashes in the fresh wind from the sea, and the murmuring of lips, more pink and melodious than any clear Pacific shell.”

3. (archaic, countable, uncountable)An act, or the situation, of being cast or thrown to the ground.
4. (archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable)A defeat, an overthrow; also, an act of destruction or ruin.
5. (countable)A cast (“change of expression of a data type”) from supertype to subtype.
6. (attributive, countable)A ventilating shaft down which air passes in circulating through a mine.

verb

1. (transitive)To turn (the eyes) downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty.
2. (transitive)To cast or throw (something) downwards; also, to drop or lower (something).

   “For there shall come a mightier blast, / There shall be a darker day; / And the stars, from heaven down-cast, / Like red leaves be swept away!”

3. (transitive)To demolish or tear down (a building, etc.).
4. (figuratively, transitive)To make (someone) feel despondent or discouraged; to discourage, to sadden.
5. (transitive)To cast (“change the expression of”) (a data type) from supertype to subtype.
6. (Scotland, transitive)To reproach or upbraid (someone); also, to taunt (someone).
7. (obsolete, transitive)To depose or overthrow (a leader, an institution, etc.); also (sometimes reflexive), to bring down (oneself or someone) from an exalted position; to humble.