downcast
    adj 1: directed downward; "a downcast glance"
    2: filled with melancholy and despondency ; "gloomy at the
       thought of what he had to face"; "gloomy predictions"; "a
       gloomy silence"; "took a grim view of the economy"; "the
       darkening mood"; "lonely and blue in a strange city";
       "depressed by the loss of his job"; "a dispirited and
       resigned expression on her face"; "downcast after his
       defeat"; "feeling discouraged and downhearted" [syn:
       gloomy, grim, blue, depressed, dispirited,
       down(p), downcast, downhearted, down in the mouth,
       low, low-spirited]
    n 1: a ventilation shaft through which air enters a mine

downcast \down"cast`\, a.
   Cast downward; directed to the ground, from bashfulness,
   modesty, dejection, or guilt.
   [1913 Webster]

         'T is love, said she; and then my downcast eyes,
         And guilty dumbness, witnessed my surprise. --Dryden.

   2. depressed; dispirited; dejected; -- of people.

   Syn: down(predicate), downhearted, low, low-spirited.
        [WordNet 1.5] -- Down"cast`ly, adv. --
        Down"cast`ness, n.
        [1913 Webster]

Downcast \Down"cast`\, n.
   1. Downcast or melancholy look.
      [1913 Webster]

            That downcast of thine eye.           --Beau. & Fl.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Mining) A ventilating shaft down which the air passes in
      circulating through a mine.
      [1913 Webster]