downs

noun

1. (form-of, plural)plural of down

verb

1. (form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person)third-person singular simple present indicative of down

name

1. A surname.
2. The South Downs.

   “Let's go for a walk on the Downs.”

3. A road for shipping in the English Channel or Straits of Dover, near Deal, employed as a naval rendezvous in time of war.

   “On the 11th [June, 1771] we run up the channel […] at noon we were abreast of Dover, and about three came to an anchor in the Downs, and went ashore at Deal.”

4. (UK, historical, obsolete, slang)Tothill Fields Bridewell, a prison located in the Westminster area of central London between 1618 and 1884.