one-downadv.
/wʌn ˈdaʊn/, U.S. /ˌwən ˈdaʊn/ Originally Golf.
A single point, game, etc., behind one's opponent in a game, match, etc.; (more generally) inferior in some particular respect; at a disadvantage. Also (with hyphen) attributive or as adj. Cf. one n. 4c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > [adverb] > disadvantaged
one-down1890
1890 Murray's Mag. Sept. 315 Possibly Willie was unlucky, as Lady Evelyn averred that he was, in hitting a ball clean over the cliff into the sea... Anyhow, the consequence was that he was one down, with two to play.
1907 H. H. Hilton Golfing Reminisc. 103 At the fourteenth hole he was one down.
1927 Daily Express 27 May 13/2 Wethered,..reaching the turn rather scratchily in forty-two, stood one down.
1961 Times 22 Mar. 16/3 It is the Negroes who are educated, who ‘talk posh’, who go to university; the native English who are one-down, with less money and less culture.
1964 J. M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. iii. 36 Stephen Potter has given an amusing list of techniques for making others feel ‘one-down’, together with counterploys for dealing with such methods when used by others.
1994 New Yorker 24 Oct. 37/2 If you listen, you'll hear this over and over during the day—a woman taking a one-down position to save face for the other person.
Derivatives
one-ˈdownness n. the fact or state of being one-down; cf. one-upness n. at one-up adv. and adj. Derivatives.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > [noun] > state of being at a disadvantage
underhand1886
one-downness1952
one-downmanship1961
1952 S. Potter One-Upmanship ii. ii. 32 To increase the one-downness, bring in the washing-the-hands gambit immediately after touching hands with Patient.
2002 Times (Nexis) 24 June It is as if the permanent one-downness of Africa gets in the way at the sharp end of the World Cup.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1890