HomeServicesBlogDictionariesContactSpanish Course
← Back to search

Meaning of down tools | Babel Free

Verb CEFR B2

Definitions

To stop work, especially when taking industrial action.

UK, idiomatic, informal

Examples

“But when railway workers downed tools almost a year later, on September 26 1919, Britain was in many ways still a country at war.”
“In Coventry, 300 GMB members plan to down tools over long hours, bad management and a 50p-an-hour pay rise[.]”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.

See also

Learn this word in context

See down tools used in real conversations inside our free language course.

Start Free Course