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    lower

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    lower
    I
    low‧er1 W3 /ˈləʊə $ ˈloʊər/ adjective
     Word Family: adjective: low, lower, lowly; verb: lower; noun: low; adverb: low
    1. [only before noun] below something else, especially below something of the same type
       OPP  upper:
        Nina chewed her lower lip anxiously.
        Ruth went down to the lower deck (=lower level on a ship).
        your lower limbs (=your legs)
    2. [only before noun] at or near the bottom of something
       OPP  upper:
        the lower slopes of the mountain
        She suffers with pain in her lower back.
    3. smaller in number or amount
       OPP  higher:
        Temperatures will be lower over the weekend.
    4. [only before noun] less important than something else of the same type
       OPP  higher:
        the lower levels of management

    II
    lower2 S3 W3 verb
    1.  REDUCE  [intransitive and transitive] to reduce something in amount, degree, strength etc, or to become less:
        Do you think we should lower the price?
        After 20 minutes lower the temperature to 325°.
        drugs to lower blood pressure
        Helen lowered her voice (=made it quieter) as they approached.
        His voice lowered (=became quieter).
      REGISTER
        In everyday English, people usually say that someone turns down the temperature or volume rather than lowers it:
       ▪ Can you turn the heating down?
    2.  MOVE DOWN  [transitive] to move something down from higher up
       OPP  raise:
        Very gently, he lowered the dog onto the rug by the fire.
        The flags were lowered to half-mast.
        Greg watched as the coffin was lowered.
        lower yourself
        He lowered himself carefully down from the top of the wall.
    3. lower your eyes/head to look down
       OPP  raise:
        Christina blushed and lowered her eyes.
    4. lower yourself [usually in negatives] to behave in a way that makes people respect you less:
        I wouldn’t lower myself to speak to her after what she’s done.
    5. lower the tone (of something) to make something not as nice as it was:
        They thought an influx of students would lower the tone of the neighborhood.
        Trust you to lower the tone of the conversation (=include rude jokes etc in what you say)!
    —lowered adjective:
        He leaned forward and spoke in a lowered voice.
         
    THESAURUS
    ■ to reduce prices, numbers, or amounts
       ▪ reduce to make the price, amount, or size of something less or smaller: The price was reduced by 50%. | We need to reduce the amount of salt in our diet.
       ▪ cut to reduce something, especially by a large amount – used about prices, costs, jobs, or the time needed to do something: Companies are always looking for ways to cut costs. | The journey time will be cut to under 2 hours. | Staff numbers have been cut by half to about 150.
       ▪ lower to reduce the level, limit, or amount of something. Lower sounds rather formal: The voting age was lowered to 18. | The government decided to lower interest rates by 0.5%. | After twenty minutes, lower the temperature to 150 degrees.
       ▪ bring something down to reduce something such as prices or costs, or reduce the level of something. Bring something down is less formal than lower: The government wants to bring down the level of inflation. | The company is trying to bring its costs down.
       ▪ slash informal to reduce an amount or price by a very large amount – used especially in newspapers and advertisements: Public spending has been slashed over the past two years. | Prices slashed for one week only!
       ▪ cut something back to reduce the amount of something – used especially about people deciding to spend less, do less, or use less of something: The education budget has been cut back again. | I need to cut back on my workload.
       ▪ downsize to reduce the number of people employed in order to reduce costs – used about a company or organization: The company is planning to downsize its European operations.
       ▪ scale something down/back to reduce the size or the amount of money that is being spent on something: The research programme has been scaled down. | The navy is being scaled down.
       ▪ relieve/ease to make pain or feelings less unpleasant: The drug is used to relieve pain. | A joke can help to ease the tension.
       ▪ alleviate formal to reduce pain or suffering, or make a problem less serious: You can buy various medicines to alleviate the symptoms of flu. | The new road was supposed to alleviate the congestion problem.

    III
    low‧er3 (also lour British English) /ˈlaʊə $ -ər/ verb [intransitive] literary
    1. when the sky or the weather lowers, it becomes dark because there is going to be a storm
       SYN  darken:
        lowering clouds
    2. to look threatening or annoyed
       SYN  frown:
        The other driver lowered at us as we passed him.