downward

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adverb In, to, or toward a lower place, level, or position.
• adverb Toward a lower position in a hierarchy or on a socioeconomic scale.
• adverb Toward the feet or lower parts.
• adverb Toward a lower amount, degree, or rank.
• adverb From a prior source or earlier time.
• adjective Directed toward a lower place or position.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Moving or tending from a higher to a lower place, condition, or state; taking a descending direction, literally or figuratively: as, the downward course of a mountain path, or of a drunkard.
• Descending from a head, origin, or source: as, the downward course of a river; a downward tracing of records.
• From a higher to a lower place, condition, or state.
• In a course or direction from a head, origin, source, or remoter point in space or in time: as, water flows downward toward the sea; to trace successive generations downward from the earliest records.
• In the lower parts; as regards the lower parts or extremities.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adverb From a higher place to a lower; in a descending course.
• adverb From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin.
• adverb From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line.
• adjective Moving or extending from a higher to a lower place; tending toward the earth or its center, or toward a lower level; declivous.
• adjective Descending from a head, origin, or source.
• adjective Tending to a lower condition or state; depressed; dejected.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adverb toward a lower level, either in space or in a hierarchy or an amount
• adjective moving or sloping down

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective extending or moving from a higher to a lower place
• adjective on or toward a surface regarded as a base
• adverb spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position