cry down

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

cry down (third-person singular simple present cries down, present participle crying down, simple past and past participle cried down)

1. (transitive, archaic) Publicly to forbid or suppress (something).
2. (archaic, transitive, idiomatic) To condemn, disparage.

   Synonym: downcry

   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 346:

     ‘I, for my part, don't want to cry Sir Robert down, though he does not deal at my shop.’

3. (intransitive, idiomatic, of a baby) To cry until it is tired.