downcast Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a ventilation shaft through which air enters a mine
  2. adjective satellite directed downward
    • a downcast glance
  3. adjective satellite filled with melancholy and despondency
    blue; downhearted; dispirited; down in the mouth; depressed; down; gloomy; low; low-spirited; grim.
    • gloomy at the thought of what he had to face
    • gloomy predictions
    • a gloomy silence
    • took a grim view of the economy
    • the darkening mood
    • lonely and blue in a strange city
    • depressed by the loss of his job
    • a dispirited and resigned expression on her face
    • downcast after his defeat
    • feeling discouraged and downhearted

WordNet

Down"cast` adjective
Definitions
  1. Cast downward; directed to the ground, from bashfulness, modesty, dejection, or guilt.
    'T is love, said she; and then my downcast eyes, And guilty dumbness, witnessed my surprise. Dryden.
    - Down"cast`ly, adv. -- Down"cast`ness, n.
Down"cast` noun
Definitions
  1. Downcast or melancholy look.
    That downcast of thine eye. Beau. & Fl.
  2. (mining) A ventilating shaft down which the air passes in circulating through a mine.

Webster 1913