Definition of "adown"
adown
adverb
not comparable
(archaic) Down, downward; to or in a lower place.
Quotations
Many a family circle wept as they looked upon the familiar places, which would know their lost ones no more; but ah, chide me not, kind reader, in thus leading you adown to the coldness of death, in setting before you that which causes your tender heart to shudder.
1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds
The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. […] Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.
1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “After Twenty Years”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, page 214
preposition
(archaic) Down.
Quotations
I fell from one dream into another; found myself wandering through impossible places; […] peering out into the darkness, to catch a sight of a vague figure standing somewhere in the shadow, and looking, with the sun streaming into my eyes and blinding me, adown long white roads filled with a multitude of people […]
1875, Charlotte Riddell, The Uninhabited House