Meaning of down but not out | Babel Free

Definitions

Temporarily incapacitated but not permanently defeated.

idiomatic, not-comparable

Examples

“He raised dim eyes to her, eyes that seemed already filmed with death's opaque curtains, but bravely, slowly smiled. "I'm down, but not out, darlin'. That brute of a doctor jolted me hard; I nearly took the count—but I'm—still in the ring.[…]"”

“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.”

CEFR level