down vs hors de combat

down

adj
  • Wounded and unable to move normally, or killed. 

  • Sad, unhappy, depressed, feeling low. 

  • Mechanically failed, collided, shot down, or otherwise suddenly unable to fly. 

  • Having a lower score than an opponent. 

  • Sick or ill. 

  • Negative about; hostile to. 

  • Comfortable with, accepting of. 

  • Facing downwards. 

  • Fallen or felled. 

  • At a lower level than before. 

  • Accepted, respected, or loyally participating in the (thug) community. 

  • Finished (of a task); defeated or dealt with (of an opponent or obstacle); elapsed (of time). Often coupled with to go (remaining). 

  • Out. 

  • Thoroughly practiced, learned or memorised; mastered. (Compare down pat.) 

  • Inoperable; out of order; out of service. 

noun
  • The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, such as the thistle. 

  • That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down. 

  • Down payment. 

  • A hill, especially a chalk hill; rolling grassland 

  • A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep. 

  • Soft, fluffy immature feathers which grow on young birds. Used as insulating material in duvets, sleeping bags and jackets. 

  • The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear. 

  • An act of swallowing an entire drink at once. 

  • A negative aspect; a downer, a downside. 

  • A clue whose solution runs vertically in the grid. 

  • A downstairs room of a two-story house. 

  • The lightest quark with a charge number of −¹⁄₃. 

  • A field, especially one used for horse racing. 

  • A single play, from the time the ball is snapped (the start) to the time the whistle is blown (the end) when the ball is down, or is downed. 

verb
  • To disparage; to put down. 

  • To drink or swallow, especially without stopping before the vessel containing the liquid is empty. 

  • To knock (someone or something) down; to cause to come down; to fell. 

  • Specifically, to cause (something in the air) to fall to the ground; to bring down (with a missile etc.). 

  • To render (the ball) dead, typically by touching the ground while in possession. 

  • To lower; to put (something) down. 

  • To defeat; to overpower. 

  • To sink (a ball) into a hole or pocket. 

  • To cover, ornament, line, or stuff with down. 

adv
  • At or towards any place that is visualised as 'down' by virtue of local features or local convention, or arbitrarily, irrespective of direction or elevation change. 

  • So as to reduce size, weight or volume. 

  • From less to greater detail. 

  • So as to lessen quantity, level or intensity. 

  • Forward, straight ahead. 

  • In the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero. 

  • To the south (as south is at the bottom of typical maps). 

  • From a higher position to a lower one; downwards. 

  • At a lower or further place or position along a set path. 

  • As a down payment. 

  • On paper (or in a durable record). 

  • Get down. 

  • Into a state of non-operation. 

  • To a subordinate or less prestigious position or rank. 

  • Towards the opponent's side (in ball-sports). 

  • Away from the city (regardless of direction). 

  • Used with verbs to indicate that the action of the verb was carried to some state of completion, permanence, or success rather than being of indefinite duration. 

  • From a remoter or higher antiquity. 

  • So as to secure or compress something to the floor, ground, or other (usually horizontal) surface. 

prep
  • From one end to another of (in any direction); along. 

  • From the higher end to the lower of. 

  • At (a given place that is seen as removed from one's present location or other point of reference). 

  • From north to south of. 

hors de combat

adj
  • Out of action; disabled; no longer able to fight. 

How often have the words down and hors de combat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )