🗓️ Idiom: Down Tools
💬 Meaning
- To stop working, often suddenly or in protest.
- It can also refer more generally to taking a break or finishing work for the day.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The workers decided to down tools until their demands were met.
- We’ll down tools at 5 PM and pick this up tomorrow.
- The team downed tools when the server crashed, halting all online activity.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from manual labor, where workers would literally put down their tools to stop working. It became especially associated with labor strikes and industrial action in the UK in the 19th and 20th centuries.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The employees __________ tools in protest over the unsafe conditions.
Answer
downed
2. Choose the correct meaning of “down tools”:
A) To buy new equipment
B) To stop working, especially due to protest or rest
C) To clean up after a project
Answer
B) To stop working, especially due to protest or rest
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“They stopped working when the management refused to listen to them.” → Change the sentence using: down tools
Answer
They downed tools when the management refused to listen to them.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
👉 HR and Recruitment Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
👉 Student Space
👉 Tutor Toolkit
