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Wiktionary
mow down

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To cut down, especially in large numbers. 2 (context transitive figuratively by extension English) To kill or slaughter, or to injure by knocking down, especially in large numbers and in a ruthless manner.

WordNet
mow down

v. kill a large number of people indiscriminately; "The Hutus massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda" [syn: massacre, slaughter]

Usage examples of "mow down".

He had seen an American Claymore mine, no bigger than a schoolbook, blast a bloody path through a column of advancing troops and mow down the grass in a swath around them.

No viral rain of death virus to mow down millions and feed the glazier beam when it arrives.

They had metal tubes on large wheels, which even more resembled a furious storm god, for they belched still brighter lightning, louder thunder, and a spray of jagged metal bits that could mow down many men at once, like maize stalks beaten down by a hailstorm.

The object now is to mow down all the heads which rise above the common level, and, this time, to mow them down, not one by one, but in large groups.

If you only tranquilize Terrorist X instead of killing him, you're going to expend a certain amount of energy and brain power wondering if maybe you didn't do it right, and maybe he's going to pop back up and mow down half your squad with his HK-93.

June arrived, and it was time to mow down grass to make into hay for the winter, and Jacob had two scythes.

The stock boy had had a semiautomatic weapon, and he had managed to mow down fifteen people before being shot by an off-duty policeman.

He said in a sarcastic tone, 'You didn't have all these scruples when you watched your men mow down nuns and babies.

In another few days, the combines will arrive to mow down the strong plants, shake the grain loose from the mother stalks and leave piles of straw stacked in windrows.

My enormously long arm was my sword arm, which, backed by my super-human strength and a long sword, permitted me to cut a swath through the enemy line that opened a path as by magic, for those that I did not mow down turned and fled before the intensity of my attack.

The cannon in the works were shotted, the fuses thrust into the touch-holes and the men stood with lanyards in hand ready to mow down everybody, at any instant.

Despite what Major Kira may tell you, the Cardassians did not generally mow down their Bajoran prisoners like they were so much wheat.

WORLD WAR I TRENCH WARFARE In World War I, attacks changed from those of earlier wars, since a machine gun behind barbed wire could mow down whole columns of attackers.

Only, butcher knives did not mow down people, and they were tidier than axes, tidier than vultures.