Learn English – How to people “stand down”

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What I am particularly interested in is the phrasal verb stand down.

According to Oxford Online Dictionary, it means:

Relax or cause to relax after a state of readiness:

However, whenever I hear this phrasal verb in movies or TV shows, it sounds more like "do not engage (do not aim/do not shoot)" or "lower your guns from the target".

Question: I am interested in knowing about its origin and etymology. What exactly does stand down mean? Any object of the verb stand is omitted or something else?

Best Answer

According to the following source the origin is from military jargon and its first usage dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.

Stand down:

  • is one of several specifically military uses of “stand” that include “to stand to one’s arms,” meaning “to maintain one’s position in the face of an attack” (the source of the idiom “to stick to your guns,” meaning “to not give in” in an argument, etc.), as well as “to stand to arms,” meaning to assume combat readiness and prepare for action.

  • “To stand down” is the opposite of “to stand to arms,” and means to go off duty or relax from a state of readiness (“‘Stand-down’ was the corresponding order at the end of the Danger Period, used in like manner as an expression for a definite point of time,” 1925). The “down” in “stand down” doesn’t mean literally taking a seat, any more than the command “at ease” means to lounge on the nearest couch, but the contrast is to “on duty” status and alert readiness.

  • “Stand down” first appeared in print in 1919, just after World War I, so we can assume that the term originated in that conflict.

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