From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstand down phrasal verb British English1 LEAVE A JOB OR ORGANIZATIONto agree to leave your position or to stop trying to be elected, so that someone else can have a chance SYN step down American English as He was obliged to stand down as a parliamentary candidate.2 SCTto leave the witness box in a court of law3 stand (somebody) downPM if a soldier stands down or is stood down, he stops working for the day → stand→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
stand as• Roy Hattersley would also stand down as deputy leader.• But Sara, standing down as Green chairwoman, suggested the only disaster has been the party's huge decline.• Nelson Mandela stood down as party leader and will give up the position of head of state in the 1999 general election.• He stood down as the party's leader in 1999.stand (somebody) down• He walked slowly over to the door, and stood looking down at her.• Gabriel had the window wide open and was standing there looking down at him.• He stands looking down at me.• He stood looking down at Tibbles, breathing heavily.• Then he stood looking down at Tim Reagan.• Jane crossed to the windows and stood staring down into the street.From Longman Business Dictionarystand down phrasal verb [intransitive] to agree to leave your position or stop trying to be elected, so that someone else can have a chanceI’m prepared to stand down in favor of a younger candidate. → stand→ See Verb table 