Phrasal verb
dash down
Definition
phrasal verb. to write something very quickly because you are in a hurry.
phrasal verb. to record information in writing with great haste and often without concern for neatness or detail.
Examples
“I need to dash down her phone number before I forget it.”
“He managed to dash down a few notes during the meeting before the speaker moved to the next slide.”
“The poet was known to dash down verses on napkins whenever inspiration struck him in the middle of a meal.”
Examples
simple
“I need to dash down her phone number before I forget it.”
contextual
“He managed to dash down a few notes during the meeting before the speaker moved to the next slide.”
complex
“The poet was known to dash down verses on napkins whenever inspiration struck him in the middle of a meal.”
Usage
usually takes a noun like 'notes', 'a message', or 'a few words' as its object.
Teaching tip
contrast with 'jot down' (which implies brevity) and 'scribble' (which implies messiness); 'dash down' emphasizes the speed and urgency of the action.
Pitfall
He dashed down it.
He dashed it down.
when using a pronoun like 'it', it must come between the verb and the particle in this separable phrasal verb.
Phrasal verb
Particles
down
Separability
optional
Pattern
dash + object + down