downcast

Meanings

Adjective

• Looking downwards.
• Feeling despondent.

Noun

• A cast from supertype to subtype.
• A melancholy look.
• A ventilating shaft down which the air passes in circulating through a mine.

Verb

• To cast or throw down; to turn downward.
• To taunt; to reproach; to upbraid.
• To cast from supertype to subtype.

Origin

• From Middle English *doun-casten, *adoun-casten (inferred from Middle English adoun-casting, adoun-cast), modelled similarly to other constructions in Middle English (namely, Middle English adoun-throwen, adoun-werpen), equivalent to down- + cast.