low-down

• lowdown

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊ.daʊn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊ.daʊn/

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -aʊn

low-down (comparative more low-down, superlative most low-down)

1. (idiomatic, slang, US) Of no value.
   • 1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:

     Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme.
     "The low-down, ornery cuss!" said Dobbs. "The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!"

   • 2007, Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree, page 16:

     No-count. Even low-down. I still don't see how Loma could of married into that sharecropper white trash.

2. Down, depressed.
   • 2003, Weird Al Yankovic (lyrics and music), “Hardware Store”, in Poodle Hat:

     Nothing ever happens in this town, feeling low-down, not a lot to do around here.
     I thought that I would go right out of my mind until my friend told me the news.

low-down (plural low-downs)

1. An abject or despicable person.
   • 2014 September 2, William W. Johnstone, A Dangerous Man, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, page 94:

     He was a lowdown because white men made him that way. Don't you agree?

• down low, down-low, downlow