Word definition: fall

Etimology


Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”). Cognate with West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Low German fallen (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German fallen (“to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla (“to fall”), Icelandic falla (“to fall”), Albanian fal (“forgive, pray, salute, greet”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to attack, rush”). Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall (“a falling, fall”) and Old English fealle (“trap, snare”), from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz (“a fall, trap”). Cognate with Dutch val, German Fall (“fall”) and German Falle (“trap, snare”), Danish fald, Swedish fall, Icelandic fall. Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of fall of the leaf (1540s), from the falling of leaves during this season. Along with autumn, it mostly replaced the older name harvest as that name began to be associated strictly with the act of harvesting. Compare spring, which began as a shortening of “spring of the leaf”.

verb


fall (third-person singular simple present falls, present participle falling, simple past fell, past participle fallen)

(heading, intransitive) To be moved downwards.

(transitive) To move downwards.

(intransitive) To change, often negatively.

To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.

(intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.

(transitive, obsolete) To diminish; to lessen or lower.

(transitive, obsolete) To bring forth.

(intransitive, obsolete) To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.

(intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.

(intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.

(intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.

(intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).

(intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.

(intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.

(intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).

Examples


Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.

There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

The rain fell at dawn.

Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.

Once or twice a noise fell upon his quick ear, and we halted, he standing revolver in hand in an attitude of defense. Each time, however, we ascertained that we had no occasion for alarm, the noise being made by some animal or bird  ...

And then a sudden calm fell on us like a cloud of fear. There! on the table, lay the Jewel of Seven Stars, shining and sparkling with lurid light, as though each of the seven points of each of the seven stars gleamed through blood!

Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N […] dark clouds closing in over everything. At 3 in the afternoon the breeze came up from the S with a thick drizzle. Thus night fell, and thus we passed the rest of it.

The horse wrangler, a tall, bronzed-face man, waved to the wagon driver. The driver laughed. […] The canvas cover rolled up suddenly and a terrible noise fell over the desert.

He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.

For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.

to fall the voice

to fall a tree

She has fallen ill.

The children fell asleep in the back of the car.

When did you first fall in love?

fall silent, fall sick, fall pregnant, fall victim to something

At length they stood at the corner from which they had begun, and it had fallen quite dark, and they were no wiser.

Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N and then it fell calm, […]

Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.

This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.

The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.

The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.

Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.

Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.

Last year, Commencement fell on June 3.

And so it falls to me to make this important decision.

The estate fell to his brother.

The kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.

If to her share some female errors fall, / Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.

Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.

to fall lambs

The shepherd […] did […] fall part-colour'd lambs

As for Calves newly fallen, you must leave them with good Litter of fresh Straw until such qime as the Cows have licked and cleansed them,

My intended remarks are on the cords , and wiping dry the newly fallen calf

another writer, adopting a similar opinion, affirms that it results from the lambs not being docked at a sufficiently early period; for "sometimes the ewe, in the ardour of her maternal affection, chews away the tail from her newly-fallen lamb, and none of these are afterwards affectd by the sturdy;

The newly fallen lambs are a peculiar sight, as they invariably come spotted or black ; but while the head and legs retain their inky black color, the wool grows out white as with the other Down breeds.

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

to fall into error;  to fall into difficulties

Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.

Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.

[…] An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.

[…] Polybius tells us, the beſt Government is that which conſiſts of three Forms, Regno, Optimatium, & Populi imperio. Which may be fairly Tranſlated, the Kings, Lords and Commons. […] the Romans fell upon this Model purely by chance, but the Spartans by Thought and Deſign.

Primitive men […] do not make laws, they fall into customs.

After arguing, they fell to blows.

They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.

An unguarded expression fell from his lips.

An Empire-style dress has a high waistline – directly under the bust – from which the dress falls all the way to a hem as low as the floor.

Related words


synonyms

(move to a lower position under the effect of gravity): drop, plummet, plunge

(come down): come down, descend, drop

(come to the ground deliberately): drop, lower oneself, prostrate oneself

(be brought to the ground):

(collapse; be overthrown or defeated): be beaten by, be defeated by, be overthrown by, be smitten by, be vanquished by,

(die): die

(be allotted to): be the responsibility of, be up to

(become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc)): dip, drop

(become): become, get

(cause (something) to descend to the ground): cut down (of a tree), fell, knock down, knock over, strike down

antonyms

(come down): ascend, go up, rise

(come to the ground deliberately): get up, pick oneself up, stand up

(collapse; be overthrown or defeated): beat, defeat, overthrow, smite, vanquish

(become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc)): rise

coordinate terms

topple

tumble

noun


fall (countable and uncountable, plural falls)

The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.

(chiefly Canada, US, archaic in Britain) The time of the year when the leaves typically fall from the trees; autumn; the season of the year between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. [from 16th c.]

A loss of greatness or status.

That which falls or cascades.

(sports) A crucial event or circumstance.

A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.

(informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.

(nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).

An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.

A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.

The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.

Examples


“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

A friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." [brackets in original]

the fall of Rome

A fall of hair tumbled down one side of her body like a veil.

Female patients with localized hair loss on the top of scalp could select a fall or a demiwig to camouflage crown and anterior scalp loss.

He set up his rival to take the fall.

"[...] with one overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air."

Have the goodness to secure the falls of the mizzen halyards.

Brooks fitted a new fall to his whip.

Related words


synonyms

(act of moving to a lower position): descent, drop

(reduction): decrease, dip, drop, lowering, reduction

(season): autumn, (UK dialect) harvest, (UK dialect) back end

(loss of greatness or status): downfall

(blame; punishment): rap

antonyms

(act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity): ascent, rise

(reduction): increase, rise

(loss of greatness or status): ascent, rise

Etimology


Perhaps from the north-eastern Scottish pronunciation of whale.

interjection


fall

(nautical) The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.

noun


fall (plural falls)

(nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.

Data provided by Wiktionary