face down

adv, adj, noun and 1 more — 5 senses

face-down

advalso spelled face-down

1

Of a person or object In a manner such that the face, front, or surface which is normally directed forward for viewing is positioned downward.

She was sleeping face-down on the sofa.
He placed the page face-down on the table so that we could not see its contents.

face-down

adj

1

Having the face, front or surface positioned downward.

the face-down cards in a game

face-down

noun

1

A confrontation.

What Herzog makes abundantly clear, as he progresses through accounts of the 40 years of bloodshed that have led to the recent facedowns between American and Israeli allies, is […]1983, The Marine Corps Gazette, page 90:

face down

verb

1

Idiomatic To confront; to abash by stern looks.

That old philosopher grew cross, / Who could not tell what motion was; / Because he walked against his will, / He faced men down, that he stood still.1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC:
An already febrile atmosphere within the ground before the start had been stoked still further when France's players formed an arrow formation to face down the haka, and then advanced slowly over halfway as the capacity crowd roared.2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport:

2

Archaic To persist in confronting impudently.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for face-down and face down.