takedown

Etymology

It is from English from the phrasal verb take down,^[1][2][3][4] formed from take and down.^[2] The verb phrase is recorded from about 1300 in the literal sense "to move to a lower place", from the 1540s as "to pull down, take to pieces", and as "to humble" from the 1560s, often in “take down a peg”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flue or pipe that leads furnace gases downwards: 1850, in R. Armstrong's treatise on steam boilers, a sense now rare.^[1] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the noun to 1893, as the act of taking down,^[2][5][3] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1890–95.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed the senses of the verb phrase.^[1][2] From 1858 it meant an act of humbling or humiliating someone,^[1][6] and any act of taking something down followed in 1880.^[1] In Australian slang a take-down was a swindler from 1888 and a swindle from 1892;^[1][7] Green's Dictionary of Slang has the swindler in British use in 1893 and the swindle in Australian use in the 1900s.^[7] The adjective, of something built to be easily taken apart, is recorded from 1893,^[1] and in 1895 the noun named the mechanism that lets a rifle's barrel be detached from its stock.^[1][6] Wrestling and judo used it from 1939 for bringing an opponent to the ground,^[1] North American police and criminal slang from 1988 for a raid or arrest,^[1][8] and the internet from 1996 for the removal of a website or file, often after a formal demand.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 1850 – a flue leading furnace gases downwards (now rare).^[1]
• 1858 – an act of humiliating someone.^[1]
• 1880 – any act of taking someone or something down.^[1]
• 1888 – Australian slang, a swindler.^[1]
• 1892 – Australian and New Zealand slang, a swindle.^[1]
• 1893 – adjective, made to be taken apart easily.^[1]
• 1895 – the detachable construction of a rifle, or the part that allows it.^[1]
• 1939 – in wrestling and judo, bringing an opponent to the ground.^[1]
• 1988 – a police raid or arrest.^[1]
• 1996 – the removal of a website or file from the internet.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. In wrestling or the martial arts, a move that brings a standing opponent down to the mat: He scored two takedowns in the first period.^[6][3][1]
2. An act of humiliating someone, or of being humiliated.^[6][3][1]
3. The act of taking something apart; an object built to be taken apart, or the mechanism that allows it, especially in a rifle.^[6][3][1]
4. (chiefly North American, slang) A police raid or an arrest.^[1][8]
5. The removal of a website, page or file from the internet, especially on demand.^[1][8]
6. (Australian and New Zealand slang) A swindle, or a swindler.^[1][7]

Adjective

1. Built so that it can be taken apart easily: a takedown shotgun.^[3][6][1]

Related words

• take
• down

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org