diff --git a/crates/tor-dirclient/semver.md b/crates/tor-dirclient/semver.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..42d5de6b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/tor-dirclient/semver.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+BREAKING: `download()` is renamed to `send_request()`
diff --git a/crates/tor-dirclient/src/lib.rs b/crates/tor-dirclient/src/lib.rs
index f094c63e4..714ce9df8 100644
--- a/crates/tor-dirclient/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/tor-dirclient/src/lib.rs
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ pub type RequestResult<T> = std::result::Result<T, RequestError>;
 /// constructed using `dirinfo`.
 ///
 /// For more fine-grained control over the circuit and stream used,
-/// construct them yourself, and then call [`download`] instead.
+/// construct them yourself, and then call [`send_request`] instead.
 ///
 /// # TODO
 ///
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ where
 
     // TODO: Perhaps we want separate timeouts for each phase of this.
     // For now, we just use higher-level timeouts in `dirmgr`.
-    let r = download(runtime, req, &mut stream, Some(source.clone())).await;
+    let r = send_request(runtime, req, &mut stream, Some(source.clone())).await;
 
     if should_retire_circ(&r) {
         retire_circ(&circ_mgr, &source, "Partial response");
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ fn should_retire_circ(result: &Result<DirResponse>) -> bool {
     }
 }
 
-/// Fetch a Tor directory object from a provided stream.
+/// Fetch or upload a Tor directory object using the provided stream.
 ///
 /// To do this, we send a simple HTTP/1.0 request for the described
 /// object in `req` over `stream`, and then wait for a response.  In
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ fn should_retire_circ(result: &Result<DirResponse>) -> bool {
 /// The only error variant returned is [`Error::RequestFailed`].
 // TODO: should the error return type change to `RequestFailedError`?
 // If so, that would simplify some code in_dirmgr::bridgedesc.
-pub async fn download<R, S, SP>(
+pub async fn send_request<R, S, SP>(
     runtime: &SP,
     req: &R,
     stream: &mut S,
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ mod test {
             ) = futures::join!(
                 async {
                     // Run the download function.
-                    let r = download(&rt, &req, &mut s1, None).await;
+                    let r = send_request(&rt, &req, &mut s1, None).await;
                     s1.close().await.map_err(|error| {
                         Error::RequestFailed(RequestFailedError {
                             source: None,
@@ -703,7 +703,7 @@ mod test {
     }
 
     #[test]
-    fn test_download() -> RequestResult<()> {
+    fn test_send_request() -> RequestResult<()> {
         let req: request::MicrodescRequest = vec![[9; 32]].into_iter().collect();
 
         let (response, request) = run_download_test(
diff --git a/crates/tor-dirclient/src/util.rs b/crates/tor-dirclient/src/util.rs
index 5c9b0685f..ccb713ce6 100644
--- a/crates/tor-dirclient/src/util.rs
+++ b/crates/tor-dirclient/src/util.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ pub(crate) fn encode_request(req: &http::Request<()>) -> String {
         )
         .unwrap();
     }
+    // TODO HSS encode the body
     s.push_str("\r\n");
     s
 }
diff --git a/crates/tor-dirmgr/src/bridgedesc.rs b/crates/tor-dirmgr/src/bridgedesc.rs
index dd9a13045..982de829a 100644
--- a/crates/tor-dirmgr/src/bridgedesc.rs
+++ b/crates/tor-dirmgr/src/bridgedesc.rs
@@ -212,11 +212,11 @@ impl<R: Runtime> mockable::MockableAPI<R> for () {
             .await
             .map_err(Error::StreamFailed)?;
         let request = tor_dirclient::request::RoutersOwnDescRequest::new();
-        let response = tor_dirclient::download(runtime, &request, &mut stream, None)
+        let response = tor_dirclient::send_request(runtime, &request, &mut stream, None)
             .await
             .map_err(|dce| match dce {
                 tor_dirclient::Error::RequestFailed(re) => Error::RequestFailed(re),
-                _ => internal!("tor_dirclient::download gave non-RequestFailed {:?}", dce).into(),
+                _ => internal!("tor_dirclient::send_request gave non-RequestFailed {:?}", dce).into(),
             })?;
         let output = response.into_output_string()?;
         Ok(Some(output))
diff --git a/crates/tor-hsclient/src/connect.rs b/crates/tor-hsclient/src/connect.rs
index 7a261e981..69ffb0f16 100644
--- a/crates/tor-hsclient/src/connect.rs
+++ b/crates/tor-hsclient/src/connect.rs
@@ -580,7 +580,7 @@ impl<'c, R: Runtime, M: MocksForConnect<R>> Context<'c, R, M> {
             .await
             .map_err(DescriptorErrorDetail::Stream)?;
 
-        let response = tor_dirclient::download(self.runtime, &request, &mut stream, None)
+        let response = tor_dirclient::send_request(self.runtime, &request, &mut stream, None)
             .await
             .map_err(|dir_error| match dir_error {
                 tor_dirclient::Error::RequestFailed(rfe) => DescriptorErrorDetail::from(rfe.error),