fall
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Etymology 1
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”), 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”.
Pronunciation
- (General American) enPR: fôl, IPA(key): /fɔl/
Audio (General American): (file) - (cot–caught merger) enPR: fäl IPA(key): /fɑl/
- (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /foːl/
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fôl, IPA(key): /fɔːl/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /fo(ː)l/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɔːl
Verb
fall (third-person singular simple present falls, present participle falling, simple past fell, past participle fallen)
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- (heading, intransitive) To be moved downwards.
- To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
- 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.
- To come down, to drop or descend.
- The rain fell at dawn.
- 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:
- Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.
- To come as if by dropping down.
- 1898, William Le Queux, Whoso Findeth a Wife, page 256:
- 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 ...
- 1904, Bram Stoker, The Jewel of Seven Stars, page 248:
- 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!
- 1971, Henry Raup Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:
- 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.
- 1981, Dan Kirby, Schreiber's Choice, Ace Books, →ISBN:
- 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.
- To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
- He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.
- To be brought to the ground.
- To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- (transitive) To move downwards.
- (intransitive) To change, often negatively.
- (copulative, in idiomatic expressions) To become.
- 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
- 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, book the first (Poverty), page 27:
- At length they stood at the corner from which they had begun, and it had fallen quite dark, and they were no wiser.
- 1971, Henry Raup Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:
- Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N and then it fell calm, […]
- (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
- Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.
- (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle or by disease.
- This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.
- (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
- The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.
- 1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:
- The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.
- 1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Vol.1, pages 284–5:
- 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.
- 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
- 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.
- (copulative, in idiomatic expressions) To become.
- To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
- Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.
- Last year, Commencement fell on June 3.
- 1978, Dwight David Eisenhower, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, Letters to Mamie, Doubleday Books:
- (Thus D-day fell on June 6 rather than the planned June 5.)
- (intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
- 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.
- 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, canto II:
- If to her share some female errors fall, / Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.
- (transitive, obsolete) To diminish; to lessen or lower.
- 1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692, →OCLC:
- Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.
- (transitive, obsolete) To bring forth.
- to fall lambs
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- The shepherd […] did […] fall part-colour'd lambs
- (intransitive, obsolete) To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
- 1672, The Office of the Good House-wife, page 27:
- 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,
- 1805, John Lawrence, A general treatise on cattle, the ox, the sheep, and the swine, etc, page 100:
- My intended remarks are on the cords , and wiping dry the newly fallen calf
- 1869, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases, page 382:
- 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;
- 1892, United States. Bureau of Animal Industry, Special Report on the History and Present Condition of the Sheep Industry of the United States, page 422:
- 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.
- (intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 4:1:
- Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
- (intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
- to fall into error; to fall into difficulties
- (intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 4:5:
- Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
- 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
- I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.
- (intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ruth 3:18:
- Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- […] An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.
- 1701, [Jonathan Swift], “Chapter I”, in A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, with the Consequences They Had upon Both Those States, London: […] John Nutt […], →OCLC, page 9:
- […] 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, (which I take to have been Nature and common Reaſon) but the Spartans by Thought and Deſign.
- 1879, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Volume II – Part IV: Ceremonial Institutions
- Primitive men […] do not make laws, they fall into customs.
- (intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
- After arguing, they fell to blows.
- 1881, Benjamin Jowett (Thucydides)
- They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.
- (intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
- An unguarded expression fell from his lips.
- (intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
- 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.
- (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To visit; to go to a place.
- We'll fall over to the club tonight.
Quotations
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
- Ghoaſt [of Clarence]. […] / To morrow in the battaile thinke on me, / And fall thy edgeleſſe ſword, diſpaire and die.
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
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
- atfall
- befall
- bottom fall out
- catch a falling knife
- downfall
- easy as falling off a log
- fair fall
- fallable
- fall aboard
- fall aboard of
- fall about
- fall about someone's ears
- fall about the place
- fall abreast of
- fall abroad of
- fall across
- fall adown
- fall afire
- fall afoul
- fall afoul of
- fall after
- fallage
- fall all over someone or oneself
- fall among
- fall apart
- fall around
- fall asleep
- fall aslope
- fall astern
- fall asunder
- fall at
- fall at the crest
- fall at the final hurdle
- fall at the first fence, fall at the first hurdle
- fall at the last hurdle
- fall away
- fall back
- fall-back
- fall back, fall edge
- fall back into
- fall back on, fall back upon
- fall behind, fall behindhand
- fall below
- fall between the cracks
- fall between two stools
- fall by
- fall by the wayside
- fall calm
- fall classic
- fall dead
- fall down
- fall down on
- fall due
- fallen
- faller
- fall flat
- fall flat on one's face
- fall for
- fall forth
- fall foul
- fall foul of, fall foul with
- fall from
- fall from grace
- fall heir
- fall home
- fall ill
- fall in
- fall in age
- fall in flesh
- fall in for
- falling
- falling block
- falling in love
- falling off the bone
- falling-out
- falling out
- falling together
- fall in line
- fall in love
- fall in lust
- fall in mold, fall in mould
- fall in one's road
- fall in one's way
- fall in somebody's heart, fall in someone's heart
- fall in somebody's mind, fall in someone's mind
- fall into
- fall into a trap
- fall into line
- fall into oneself
- fall into one's hands
- fall into one's lap
- fall into place
- fall into somebody's heart, fall into someone's heart
- fall into somebody's mind, fall into someone's mind
- fall into someone's hands
- fall into someone's lap
- fall into the wrong hands
- fall in two
- fall in upon
- fall in with
- fall of
- fall off
- fall off a cliff
- fall off a truck
- fall off one's perch
- fall off the back of a lorry
- fall off the back of a truck
- fall off the cliff
- fall off the radar
- fall off the turnip truck
- fall off the wagon
- fall of the wall
- fall on
- fall on a grenade
- fall on board
- fall on deaf ears
- fall one's crest
- fall on hard times
- fall on one's face
- fall on one's feet
- fall on one's knees
- fall on one's sword
- fall on shore
- fall on sleep
- fall on someone's neck
- fall on stony ground
- fall on the crest
- fall open
- fall out
- fall out in
- fall out of
- fall out of favor
- fall out of love
- fall out upon
- fall out with
- fall over
- fall over oneself
- fall over one's feet
- fall pregnant
- fall prey
- fall prey to
- fall short
- fall short of
- fall short to
- fall sick
- fall silent
- fallstreaks
- fallstreifen
- fall through
- fall through the cracks
- fall through the floor
- fall to
- fall to be
- fall to bits
- fall together
- fall to loggerheads
- fall to mold, fall to mould
- fall to oneself
- fall to one's knees
- fall to one's lot
- fall to one's share
- fall to pieces
- fall to powder
- fall to someone's lot
- fall to the ground
- fall under
- fall unto
- fall up
- fall upon
- fall upon someone's neck
- fall victim to
- fall what can fall, fall what will fall
- fall with
- fall within
- fell (verb, as in “to fell a tree”, “to fell an opponent”)
- foul fall
- he who digs a pit for others falls in himself
- how the mighty have fallen
- let fall
- let the chips fall where they may
- let the dice fall where they may
- like falling off a log
- may fall
- may-fall
- misfall
- of-fall
- overfall
- refall
- scales fall from someone's eyes
- spring forward, fall back
- tendency of the rate of profit to fall
- the apple does not fall far from the stem
- the apple does not fall far from the tree, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, the apple never falls far from the tree
- the apple does not fall far from the trunk
- the bigger they are, the harder they fall, the bigger they come, the harder they fall
- the curtain falls
- the nut does not fall far from the tree
- the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain
- the sky fell in
- the sky will fall on your head
- to-fall
- trust-falling
- under-fall
- united we stand, divided we fall
- until the wheels fall off
Translations
move to a lower position under the effect of gravity
|
come down or descend
|
prostrate oneself
|
be brought to earth or be overthrown
|
collapse; be overthrown or defeated
|
die
|
be allotted to
|
become or change into
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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.
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “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”.
- (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.]
- 1816, John Pickering, A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America:
- 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]
- A loss of greatness or status.
- the fall of Rome
- That which falls or cascades.
- 2010, Winter Pennington, Witch Wolf:
- A fall of hair tumbled down one side of her body like a veil.
- (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.
- 2004, Zoe Diana Draelos, Hair Care: An Illustrated Dermatologic Handbook, →ISBN, page 202:
- 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.
- (informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
- He set up his rival to take the fall.
- (nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
- 1919, Joseph Conrad, Typhoon:
- "[...] 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.
- 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.
- 1945, Tom Ronan, Strangers on the Ophir, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 113:
- Brooks fitted a new fall to his whip.
- The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.
Usage notes
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
- accidental fall
- angle of fall
- ashfall, ash fall
- backfall
- bergfall
- be riding for a fall
- best-of-three-falls match
- block and fall
- break a fall
- breakfall, break-fall
- break one's fall
- brothfall
- byfall
- catfall
- center of falls, centre of falls
- chainfall
- cliff fall
- crossfall
- darkfall
- deadfall
- deadfall, dead-fall, dead fall
- dewfall, dew-fall
- dogfall, dog-fall
- downfall
- dustfall
- earthfall
- evenfall, even-fall
- fall-and-rise phenomenon
- fall and tackle
- fall armyworm
- fall-back
- fall-block, fall block
- fall-blooming
- fallboard, fall-board
- fall-breaker
- fall-bridge
- fall cankerworm
- Fall Classic
- fall-cloud
- fall colors
- fall dandelion
- fall-door
- fall duck
- fall dwindle disease
- fall equinox
- fall factor
- fallfish, fall-fish
- fall foliage
- fall-forward
- fall from grace
- fall front
- fall-front desk
- fall-guy, fall guy
- fall herring
- fall-iron door
- fall-leaf
- fall-less
- fall-like
- fall-line, fall line
- fall money
- fall of day
- fall of man, Fall of Man
- fall of shot
- fall of the leaf
- fall of the perch
- fall of wicket
- fall overturn
- fall-pipe
- fall-pippin
- fall plate
- fall rate
- fall-rise
- Fall River
- fall-rope
- fall-run fish
- falls
- Falls-to-Falls Corridor
- fall supper
- fall-through
- falltide
- falltime, fall time
- fall-trap
- fall turnover
- fall-way
- fall webworm
- fall-wind, fall wind
- fall-window
- fall woman
- fall-wood
- fally
- fall zone
- fish fall
- flagfall
- food fall
- footfall, foot-fall
- free fall
- fruit fall
- fussefall
- give a fall
- ice-fall, ice fall
- infall
- iron fall
- jawfall, jaw-fall
- landfall
- lavafall
- law-fall
- leaffall, leaf-fall
- litterfall
- midfall, mid-fall
- misfall
- mouse-fall
- near-fall
- nightfall
- offal
- onfall
- outfall
- overfall
- parachute landing fall
- penny fall
- pinfall
- pitfall
- planetfall
- pratfall, prat-fall, pratt-fall
- pressure-fall center, pressure-fall centre
- pride comes before a fall, pride goes before a fall, pride goeth before a fall
- proudfall
- rainfall
- ride for a fall
- rises and falls
- rockfall, rock fall
- roof fall
- root-fall
- shake a fall
- shout-and-fall
- slip and fall
- smokefall
- snowfall, snow-fall
- speck falls
- stiff board fall
- sunfall
- Swedish fall
- tackle fall
- take a fall
- take a fall out of
- take the fall
- technical fall
- terminal fall velocity
- the Fall of Baghdad
- the Fall of Constantinople
- the Fall of France
- the Fall of Saigon
- the Fall of the Roman Empire, the Fall of Rome
- threadfall
- throughfall
- toe drain and outfall
- trad fall
- trapfall, trap-fall
- trust fall
- try a fall
- two-out-of-three-falls match
- underfall
- waterfall
- whale fall
- windfall
- withfall
- wrestle a fall
- wrist-fall
- zipper fall
Translations
act of moving in gas or vacuum under the effect of gravity from a point to a lower point
|
a period of decline before the end
season — see autumn
loss of greatness or status
|
cricket: the act of a batsman being out
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
| Seasons in English · seasons (layout · text) · category | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| spring | summer | autumn, fall | winter |
Etymology 2
Perhaps from the north-eastern Scottish pronunciation of whale.
Interjection
fall
Noun
fall (plural falls)
Derived terms
- loose fall
References
- Williams, Zoe (2022 June 14) “The young fall over, older people ‘have a fall’ – and my stepmother is none too happy about it”, in The Guardian
- Harayada, Janice (2023 November 12) “Are We Talking About Falls The Wrong Way?”, in Crow's Feet
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