What does "download" mean?

1. (to transfer government responsibility) to pass a job or cost from a high level of government to a lower one. 2. (a transferred file) a file that you have moved or are moving from the internet to your device.

download

v. · n.

US //ˈdaʊnˌɫoʊd// UK //dˈaʊnləʊd// down·load

1 to transfer government responsibility (v.)
C1 Advanced Dialect Formal

to pass a job or cost from a high level of government to a lower one.

to transfer jurisdiction, financial responsibility, or service delivery from a federal or provincial government to a municipal one.

Example

The province decided to download the cost of road repairs to the local city council.

Example

Critics argued that the federal government was simply downloading its deficit onto the provinces by cutting social transfer payments.

Teacher's tip

This sense is specific to Canadian English and is almost always used in the context of political or financial policy.
2 a transferred file (n.)
A2 Elementary Computing

a file that you have moved or are moving from the internet to your device.

a file or piece of data that has been or is intended to be transferred from a remote system.

Example

Your download will be finished in about two minutes.

Example

The website provides a digital download of the manual in several different languages.
- file
- data

Origin

From down- + load. Verbal form first appears c. 1962 in the Wichita Falls (Texas) Times. Nominal form first appears c. 1977 in Scientific American.

Word family

Verbdownload
Adjectivedownloadable