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What is "put-down"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
put-down
noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ I didn't mean it as a put-down but I could tell from her response that she took my criticism personally.
▪ I took his criticism of my work as a real put-down.
▪ She was a master of the sarcastic put-down.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Carla, however, usually had the edge when it came to put-downs.
▪ Morrissey makes a lousy rock critic though it is hard to disagree with his put-downs.
▪ My favourite put-down of all came from Chuck Berry.
▪ Roper, who is as sharp with a put-down as he is with a knockdown, has run out of worthy opponents.
▪ She could sense the scene coming, foresee the inevitable criticism, the malicious put-downs.
▪ The best car, the wittiest put-down, and the best dress.
▪ The comment was not intended as a put-down but simply a statement of fact.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
put-down

Setdown \Set"down`\ (s[e^]t"doun`), n. The humbling of a person by act or words, especially by a disparaging remark, a retort or a reproof; the retort or the reproof which has such effect. Also called put-down.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
put-down

"insult, snub," 1962, from verbal phrase put down "to snub," attested from c.1400; see put (v.) + down (adv.).

Wiktionary
put-down

n. An insult or barb; a snide or demeaning remark.

WordNet
put-down

n. a crushing remark [syn: squelch, squelcher, takedown]

Usage examples of "put-down".

In the old days Cas had been an expert at the art of the put-down, and Sharon doubted if the woman had changed in that regard.

Quentin soon became the witty one in his circle, the one who didn't say much but always had the deft put-down, the bon mot, the new catchphrase.

These are unconsciously motivated interactions with others in which we may goof up and/or get put-down, thus confirming our childhood beliefs that we are inferior and undeserving.

The best way to deal with put-downs is to accept them and take them one step further, don't you think?

You take the put-downs and you run with them, taking them so much further that all the mockery's discharged.

However, slums and ghettos and put-downs are not going to disappear in society unless slums and games disappear from the hearts of people.

Her put-downs and barbed bon mots were legendary, but you were no one until Chantelle had deigned to notice you.

She circulated at great speed among the uneasy guests, favoring some with a quick peck on the cheek, or by generously remembering their first names in front of the cameras, while others received only biting put-downs or were damned with the very faintest of praises.

Salaman seemed to be debating a reply, one of his quick quippy put-down replies, then thought better of it.

So he had tuned out immediately, rather than get involved and risk the kind of put-down that would inevitably come.

He knew intellectually that Howe was a multimillionaire, but as a man who had never made more than fifteen thousand a year the confrontation with the impressive grounds and magnificent house gave him an emotional jolt, an instinctive comparison of his walk-up apartment, a put-down.