Talk:man down

RFV discussion: November 2015–January 2017

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man down

while it makes sense as the opposite of man up, I've never heard it with that meaning, and it doesn't look common (if it exists at all). It does appear that there's an idiomatic meaning here, but this isn't it, AFAICT. Maybe "to reduce in manpower" and/or "to weaken or diminish", but I don't see three clear cites for either of those either. WurdSnatcher (talk)

I find enough cites for "to reduce in manpower":

There is also some evidence for to intimidate:

And I found one quote to support the supplied meaning:

There also seems to be a meaning having to do with falconry - from context it looks like a process of reducing food intake to cause weight loss:

Kiwima (talk) 04:37, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

• • I've made a citations page, found one more for the falconry thing and taken a stab at writing a def for that one, also added the manpower one. I found a second use for "to intimidate", but that's still only two. I've switched this rfv to be for the "lose courage" sense, which still only has that one cite you found. WurdSnatcher (talk) 18:10, 18 November 2015 (UTC)

I suppose we could combine the two courage ones into a single definition - something like "To lose courage or cause to lose courage", and then use the three cites for that. Kiwima (talk) 19:58, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

I don't think the 1973 Canadian Labour manpower cite is good. It is at least ambiguous. I find the more natural reading to be "the employer is usually attempting to (cut out) (manning) (down on) a particular piece of equipment."

Another reading would be that it was a blend of "cut out" and "cut down" resulting from a mid-sentence edit of speech.

They all look like nonce creative exploitations of "man"'s normal meaning by verbing it. The heterogeneous nature of the uses suggests that there are probably other meanings also. DCDuring TALK 20:25, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ I think there are enough quotations to regard this as passed. — SMUconlaw (talk) 15:53, 29 January 2017 (UTC)

Medical emergency

Word of the day "man down" refers to a medical emergency. Someone has been injured and cannot get help themselves...usually when "man down" is invoked 911 should be called because its brevity can explain a priority over someone else's desire to know whats going on. It saves the questions for later and maximize's the need for emergency help. Thats all i know. Schroeder licious (talk) 06:51, 9 January 2018 (UTC)

Our current entry is for the verb. Your "man down!" is an interjection, almost like a sentence or a news headline. (Compare something like "icebergs ahead!") Equinox ◑ 06:55, 9 January 2018 (UTC)