Phrasal Verbs consist of a verb plus a particle:
verb + adverb or verb + preposition or verb + adverb + preposition.
The meaning of this combination is mostly very different from the verb and the adverb or preposition alone.
There are no rules that might explain how phrasal verbs are formed correctly - all you can do is look them up in a dictionary and study their meanings.
In fact many phrasal verbs are metaphorical, and if you understand the metaphors they use, it will be easier to understand and remember their meanings.
Phrasal verbs are mainly used in spoken English and informal texts.
Many phrasal verbs are transitive, meaning that they take an object. Other phrasal verbs can stand alone (intransitive verbs).
Some phrasal verbs are separable (the verb and the preposition can be separated, putting the object in the middle), while others are inseparable (the object must come at the end because the verb and the preposition must stay together).
Separable verb:
Correct: Put on your coat.
Correct: Put your coat on.
Inseparable verb:
Correct: Get on a bus.
Incorrect: Get a bus on.

Phrasal verbs with DOWN, their meanings and examples

DOWN is a preposition opposite of UP.

The first and the most obvious usage of the preposition DOWN is MOVEMENT DOWN or ALONG:
It is used in situations such as:
Moving in or towards a low or lower position, from a higher one
Moving from above and onto a surface
Moving in place or into position

Can be used as an alternative to the "TO" in "go to", "went to". I went down the pub with my mates.
Bend down - Lower the top half of your body. She bent down to pick up the suitcase.
Blow down - When the wind forces something to fall. The tornado blew down many buildings.
Chop down - Fell or cut down a tree. Don't chop down this tree!
Come down - Come to a lower point from a higher one/travel. When you're next in London, come down and see us.
Fall down - Fall on the ground/Have a weak point. I slipped on the ice and fell down.
Go down - Go to a lower point from a higher one. Is this lift going down?
Get down - Lower your head and body. Incoming fire! Get down!
Kneel down - Put one or both knees on the ground. She knelt in front of the fire to warm herself.
Knock down - Demolish/Hit and injure someone. Sue was knocked do wn just yards from her home.
Lie down – Place the body in a flat, horizontal position/recline. Why don't you lie down on the sofa for a while?
Move down - Cause someone or something to move farther down or along. Move down all these chairs. We need more space.
Peg down - Fasten something to the ground. After he had finished pegging the tent down, he built a fire.
Pop down (to) - Travel somewhere to visit. I'll try to pop down tomorrow evening after dinner.
Put down - Stop holding/Put someone or something onto a surface/Kill an animal because it is old or ill. This box is really heavy - can we put it down on the floor for a minute?
Sit down - Help someone to sit/Be seated/sit on something/take a seat. Please sit down and make yourself comfortable.
Stand down - Withdraw or resign/End a state of readiness or alert/ Leave a witness stand. The judge allowed the witness to stand down.
Step down - Come down from something /Leave a job or position so that someone can take over. Please step down from the platform.
Run down - Hit a pedestrian with a vehicle. She got run down outside school.
Tear down – Demolish. They plan to tear the old building down and build a new one there.

 

REDUCE (in or towards a lower level, a smaller amount, or a simpler state)
Bargain down/Beat down - Persuade someone to drop the price of something they're selling. If the price is too expensive, try to bargain it down.
Boil down - Simplify, reduce to the essentials. The manager just wanted to know what the report boiled down to meaning for the company.
Bring down - Make something cheaper/Reduce the rate, level, or amount of something. Our principal responsibility is to bring down the level of unemployment.
Calm down - Stop being angry or emotionally excited. Please try to calm yourself down!
Cool down - Get cooler/Become calm. Just try to cool down and think rationally.
Cut down - Consume less/Reduce a vertical thing to ground level by cutting. The doctor told him to cut down on his drinking.
Die down - Become much less noisy, powerful, or active. The wind died down during the night.
Draw down - Reduce levels/Get funding. Some firms have dealt with the problem by drawing down their cash reserves.
Dumb down - Make something simpler and easier to understand in a way that reduces its quality. The researchers dumbed down the report before releasing it to the public.
Go down - Decrease, get smaller/Sink/Be received by people, in terms of their reaction/Happen, take place. No one expects house prices to go down in the near future.
Grind down - Reduce or destroy someone's enthusiasm. Ground down by years of abuse, she did not have the confidence to leave him.
Mark down - Give a student a lower grade for a particular reason/Reduce the price of something. They’ve marked down the shoes to £20 for this week only.
Narrow down - Remove less important options to make it easier to choose. We can narrow the choice down to black or white.
Play down - Try to make something seem less important. The Military spokesman tried to play down the seriousness of the disaster.
Scale down - Make something smaller than originally planned. Reduced funding forced us to scale the project down.
Slow down - Reduce speed/Become less active. The doctor has told him to slow down or he'll have a heart attack.
Run down - Lose energy or power. The decision was taken to let the steel industry run down.
Simmer down - Become calmer; make less noise/Become less excited, noisy or angry. When tempers simmer down, we should be able to get an agreement.
Turn down - Reduce volume, temperature. Can you turn the music down a bit?
Water down - Make something weaker and less effective. The new laws watered down the power of the president.
Wear down - Make something weaker. They were worn down by the stress of feeding five children.


DEPRESS/UPSET/ILL (unhappy; unable to feel excited or energetic about anything)
Be down - Be depressed/Be reduced or less. He's been down since his partner left him.
Be down on - Have negative feelings toward someone. It's not fair of the boss to be so down on a new employee.
Be down with - Be ill. Kate is down with some bug and is off work today.
Break down - Stop working/End negotiations unsuccessfully/Start crying. When we gave her the bad news, she broke down and cried.
Come down with - Fall ill. I think I'm coming down with flu.
Get down - Make someone depressed, unhappy, exhausted. Doing the same thing every day can get you down.
Go down with - Fall ill/Find acceptance. She went down with a high fever.
Let down - Disappoint, fail to keep an arrangement/Make clothes longer. I was a bit late but I couldn’t let them down completely.
Look down on - Have a low opinion of. A lot of people look down on homeless people.
Pull down - Demolish/Make someone depressed. This fight with his parents is really pulling him down.

 

COMPLETE/RESTRICT/REJECT
Back down - Retract or withdraw your position or proposal in an argument. We will not back down on the decision to strike.
Burn down - Burn completely. The entire house burnt down in 20 minutes.
Clamp down on -Take strong action to stop or limit a harmful or unwanted activity. The government is clamping down on teenage drinking.
Close down - Close a shop, branch or business permanently. The health department closed the restaurant down.
Go down - Stop working, especially computers. The battery should prevent the computer system from going down in the event of a power cut.
Hold down - Stop someone or something from moving. Four people held him down.
Nail down - Succeed in getting, achieve/Understand fully/Secure something down by nailing it. I'll nail down these floorboards.
Pin down - Get a fixed idea, opinion, etc, from someone/Discover exact details about something. She pinned down the cause of the accident.
Pipe down - Stop talking or making unnecessary noise. Will you please pipe down, you two? I'm trying to read!
Power down - Cut the electricity supply to a computer or electronic device. The crew powered down the right-hand engine of the aircraft.
Rub down – Sand, dry or clean something with a cloth. Rub the wood down with fine sandpaper till it is smooth.
Settle down - Start living a fixed and routine life. Are you ever going to settle down and get married?
Shut down - Close a business, shop, etc./Turn a computer off. The company plans to shut down four factories and cut 10,000 jobs.
Smash down - Demolish or break something down. The police had to smash down the door.
Sponge down - Clean something with a sponge. Give it a sponge with a damp cloth - that will remove the blood stains.
Tie down - Secure something to prevent it moving/Remove or restrict freedom. Tie down anything that might blow away in the storm.
Track down - Find after a long search. I finally managed to track him down in Manchester.
Turn down - Reject an offer, invitation. How could you turn down such a fantastic job?
Wave down - Make a hand signal to stop a vehicle. If a car comes along, wave it down.
Wind down - Slowly close a business or organisation/Relax. The factory will wind down production before closing next year.


CRITICISE/SHOW DISRESPECT
Come down on/upon - Criticise heavily. They're coming down heavily on people for not paying their licence fees.
Put down - Criticise someone, especially when other people are present, in a way that makes them feel stupid. He’s always trying to put me down.
Run down - Criticise, disparage. You’re always running me down!
Stare down - Look at someone until they cannot look at you. He was angry but I stared him down and he left without saying much.
Talk down - Try to make something sound less important. He began his lecture by talking down the initiatives of a rival company.
Talk down to - Talk in a way to show your superiority, not communicate. I wish politicians wouldn't talk down to us as if we were idiots.

EAT or DRINK, say that something is inside your stomach
Get down - Manage to swallow food or drink. He is having soup for dinner because can’t get solid food down yet.
Keep down - Keep food in stomach/Not vomit. He's getting weak because he can't keep anything down.
Slip down - Be enjoyable to drink or eat. The cold beer slipped down a treat after the walk.
Toss down - Drink quickly. I tossed a couple of drinks down before they arrived.
Wash down - Drink in order to swallow something solid. Supper was fresh salmon and vegetables, washed down with a bottle of white wine.
 

WRITE SOMETHING QUICKLY and without taking much care
Jot down - Make a quick note. I carry a notebook so that I can jot down any ideas.
Note down - Write something short like a phone number for future reference. I noted down his phone number.
Put down for - Make a record of what someone wants or has committed to. I've put you down for three tickets each.
Stick down - Write something quickly or without thinking about it/Join surfaces with glue. Just stick your details down on a piece of paper and I’ll get back to you.
Take down - Make notes or write down in full/Remove. The police officers were taking down the names of witnesses.
Write down - Make notes. I'll write it down now so I won't forget.

And finally, some useful phrasal verbs about RAIN:
Bucket down - Rain heavily. It's absolutely bucketing down.
Lash down – to rain in large amounts and with a lot of force. It’s been lashing down for an hour.
Pour down - Rain hard. The rain poured down in torrents.
Rain down on - Fall in large numbers. The hail rained down on us—some of it quite large.