"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Friday, 23 October 2009

Downy

 
Downy means like down or as soft as down; covered with fine soft hairs or down. In the Nineteenth Century it was used as a slang word to mean canny, wide-awake or knowing.

To do the downy was an archaic phrase meaning to lie in bed.
 

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