What is down? Down is a word that is used in many different ways. It can be used as an adverb, as in “I am going down the stairs,” or as a noun, as in “She hit him with a rock and he went down.” Down can also mean to lower in rank, as in “He was demoted from sergeant to private.”

One use of the word down that is often confusing is its use to describe the state of being sad or depressed. For example, you might say “I was down all day yesterday” to mean that you were …