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Iskander Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

(be) down to smth.

Hello everybody

I've failed to find an explanation of what this phrase "to be down to something" really means elsewhere. I'm under the impression that it means something along the lines of "to be a negative result of something", but I may be wrong.

Please tell me if I'm right and whether there are other meanings to it.

Thanks a lot!
  

Top answer

Answering the second part of your question, consider this structure with "be down to" Just six months ago, I was a lowly Web designer whose unemployment insurance had run out - I was down to my last $ 12 It was taken from American Corpus, and the meaning is quite evident (like he'd spent almost all his money and had only $12). Or this one (the source is the same) I used to weigh 180 pounds. com/down-to-earth )

— MrPernickety

  • Answering the second part of your question, consider this structure with "be down to" Just six months ago, I was a lowly Web designer whose unemployment insurance had run out - I was down to my last $ 12 It was taken from American Corpus, and the meaning is quite evident (like he'd spent almost all his money and had only $12).
  • Or this one (the source is the same) I used to weigh 180 pounds.
  • com/down-to-earth )
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5 Answers
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Answering the second part of your question, consider this structure with "be down to"

Just six months ago, I was a lowly Web designer whose unemployment insurance had run out - I was down to my last $ 12

It was taken from American Corpus, and the meaning is quite evident (like he'd spent almost all his money and had only $12).


Or this one (the source is the
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Hi,

I wonder if you are thinking of "to be down to somebody" ?

I've noticed this phrase turning up in British TV shows for quite a while.

Apparently it means that someone is responsible for something.

eg

A: Who's going to drive us tomorrow?

B: It's down to Fred.

eg

Cop 1: Who killed the cab driver?

Cop 2: It
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Thanks,

that is what I was thinking of indeed.

But is that necessarily used with regard to a person, not a thing? Could that phrase be used to indicate that something is responsible for something? Such as, say, the following:

"I couldn't fall asleep till late in the night. It was down to having drunk too much coffee"

Or is such usage nonsensical?
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Hi,

No, I think that's OK as well.

I was just trying to keep my explanation simple.

Best wishes, Clive
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Yes, it is possible.

One sentence of my English assignment earlier today was: "The success of their partnership has been down to their tolerance of one another."
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