Dictionary

downland en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈdaʊn.lænd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈdaʊn.lənd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈdaʊnˌlænd/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Old English dūnland, equivalent to down + land.

Meanings

1. (UK) An area of rolling hills (downs), often grassy pasture over chalk or limestone.
   • I was surprised to see that the plane had been wrecked, not on one of the hefty cliff faces of our mountain, but on a gentle green hillside, merging into downland. 1958, Muriel Spark, chapter 6, in Robinson, New York: New Directions, published 2003, page 66:
   • The large cement works nearby are served by sidings, and strike a sudden jarring industrial note in the midst of the rural downland scene. 1953 February, H. A. Vallance, “To Brighton through the Shoreham Gap”, in Railway Magazine, page 82:
   • I traversed the downland Whereon the bleak hill-graves of Chieftains Bulge barren of tree; 1898, Thomas Hardy, “My Cicely”, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses, New York: Harper, page 126:
   • Shortly after leaving Godshill, a lengthy climb begins through rolling downland country at 1 in 75, easing to 1 in 103. 1946 July and August, K. Westcott Jones, “Isle of Wight Central Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 244:
   • Hail! every distant hill, and downland plain! Your dew-hid beauties Fancy oft unveils; 1789, Ann Ward Radcliffe, chapter 4, in The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, London: T. Hookham, page 93:
   • He drank another whisky then left the pub and climbed slowly up the downlands, bent as the trees and shrubs were bent. 2010, Howard Jacobson, chapter 12, in The Finkler Question, New York: Bloomsbury, page 278:
   • […] I walked on to Canterbury early in the morning. It was now winter again; and the fresh, cold windy day, and the sweeping downland, brightened up my hopes a little. 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

Forms

Hypernyms

land