pad down

English

Verb

pad down (third-person singular simple present pads down, present participle padding down, simple past and past participle padded down)

1. (intransitive, informal) To spend the night somewhere.
   • 2001, Jean Torkelson, Colorado's Sanctuaries, Retreats, and Sacred Places, →ISBN:

     Since you stay in the main lodge, it's easy to pad down at all hours to a cozy stay before the fireplace, or farther down the hall to the small Gothic-style chapel.

2. (transitive) To frisk, pat down
   • 2010, Christopher O'Bryant, 320 Down, →ISBN, page 238:

     His hands padded down the bag almost violently, searching for some trace of what the tarp must certainly be hiding, but found all he had was the tarp.

3. (transitive, electronics) To reduce a signal.
   • 1962, CQ: The Radio Amateurs' Journal - Volume 18, Issue 2, page 61:

     Amateur radio W40AB has come up with a slick gadget to pad down the gain of high output converters.

   • 1996, Peter McIan, Using Your Portable Studio, →ISBN, page 154:

     If the bass has active electronics, you may have to pad down (reduce) the signal to avoid distortion.

   • 2010, Larry Crane, Tape Op: The Book about Creative Music Recording, →ISBN:

     You can build these inline into those Switchcraft XLR barrel plugs if you need to pad down signals.