down but not out
adj/ˈdaʊn bət nɒt ˈaʊt/UK/ˈdaʊn bət nɑt ˈaʊt/US
Etymology
A reference to the sport of boxing, where a boxer has been incapacitated by an opponent but not yet knocked out.
Definitions
Temporarily incapacitated but not permanently defeated.
- The intention is not to make it a hotel for downs and outs, the riffraff of Chicago’s slums, but to have it a hotel where men who are ‘down’ but not ‘out’ can obtain comfortable rooms and wholesome food at nominal prices.
- By midnight, two hours after the polls had closed, the first results showed a massive 10 per cent swing right across the country. […] A defeated David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, left the count down but not out.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for down but not out. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA