Down n.
 1. Fine, soft, hairy outgrowth from the skin or surface of animals or plants, not matted and fleecy like wool; esp.: (a) Zool. The soft under feathers of birds. They have short stems with soft rachis and bards and long threadlike barbules, without hooklets. (b) Bot. The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, as of the thistle. (c) The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear.
    And the first down begins to shade his face.   --Dryden.
 2. That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down
 When in the down I sink my head,
 Sleep, Death's twin brother, times my breath.   --Tennyson.
    Thou bosom softness, down of all my cares!   --Southern.
 Down tree Bot., a tree of Central America (Ochroma Lagopus), the seeds of which are enveloped in vegetable wool.