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I have a question about the usage of "go down" in this dictionary:

It all goes down in her notebook.

I was thinking this sense of "go down" should be used with "in history", not "in a notebook". Do native speakers think that the example sentence is weird?

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  • I think your question is weirder than the sentence in the dictionary. Why on earth would go down be limited in use to go down in history?
    – J.R.
    Mar 13, 2015 at 8:01

4 Answers 4

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From the site you provided a link to in your question:

go down (in something) to be written in something; to be recorded or remembered in something

This use of go down does not have to be paired with (in) history. Native speakers would not find your example sentence (or similar sentences that use go down in the same way) weird.

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go down in history as is an idiomatic phrase which is used in the certain context, of course, this phrase is very popular. go down in her notebook is another phrase which is used in another context, and has a different meaning.

go down in has many words which can go after. Some examples from the BNC (British National Corpus):

go down in posterity

go down in value

go down in television

go down in summer

go down in London

go down in size

go down in colour

Which car did Nigel go down in on the Thursday?

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  • You forgot go down in flames.
    – J.R.
    Mar 13, 2015 at 8:00
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I think this "It all goes down in her notebook" is modelled after "to put something down on paper".

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The phrase go down has many uses where go is a shortened form of an expression to replace several different verbs, but the action always involves movement and down can be used metaphorically to show direction

In your example

It all goes down in her notebook.

means things are written down in a notebook

Let me grab a pen so I can make a note and write that down

usually the writing surface is below the person writing

It means to travel south

We are going down to the Caribbean to catch some sun.
I'll be going down to London from Edinburgh next week.

It means to descend

Go down to the basement, the wine cellar is on the right
We'll go down the mountain before it gets dark (skiing)

It means to drink or eat

This cold beer really goes down nicely after a long day
That Muscadet goes down well with seafood
The greasy sausages went down easily

It means to travel further

Just go down the road and you'll see their house
If you go down this path you'll see the tree

It means to be noted

Rudolf the red nose reindeer, you'll go down in history

It is a type of sex

She likes it when he goes down on her

It can also mean how something is received

The play is going down well, the critics like it
The joke went down like a lead balloon

Go down is very useful indeed.

Go down may or may not be the opposite of come down

When you go down from the top of the mountain, the people in the valley will see you coming down

come down can also mean a dampening of spirits

Turning on the lights during the dance was a real come down
Running out of beer was a real come down at the party last night

For directions go down and come up are opposites

Go down to the first floor, then come (back) up to the fourth floor

Come up can also mean to appear quickly

His illness came up all of a sudden

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