verb fell fell (fĕl),
fall·en (fôˈlən),
fall·ing,
falls verb, intransitive- To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity.
- To drop oneself to a lower or less erect position: I fell back in my chair. The pilgrims fell to their knees.
a. To lose an upright or erect position suddenly.
b. To drop wounded or dead, especially in battle.
- To go or come as if by falling: All grief fell from our hearts. Night fell quickly.
- To come to rest; settle: The light fell on my book.
- To hang down: The child's hair fell in ringlets.
- To be cast down: Her eyes fell.
- To assume an expression of consternation or disappointment: His face fell when he heard the report.
- To undergo conquest or capture, especially as the result of an armed attack: The city fell after a long siege.
a. To experience defeat or ruin: After 300 years the dynasty fell.
b. To lose office: The disgraced prime minister fell from power.
- To slope downward: The rolling hills fall gently toward the coast.
a. To lessen in amount or degree: The air pressure is falling.
b. To decline in financial value: Last year, stocks fell sharply.
- To diminish in pitch or volume: My friend's voice fell to a whisper.
a. To give in to temptation; sin.
b. Theology To lose primordial innocence and happiness. Used of humanity as a result of the Fall.
c. To lose one's chastity.
- To pass into a particular state, condition, or situation: fell silent; fall in love.
- To occur at a specified time: New Year's Day falls on a Tuesday this year.
- To occur at a specified place: The stress falls on the last syllable.
- To come, as by chance: fell among a band of thieves; a thought that fell into his mind.
a. To be given by assignment or distribution: The greatest task fell to me.
b. To be given by right or inheritance.
- To be included within the range or scope of something: The specimens fall into three categories.
- 21. To come into contact; strike: My gaze fell on a small book in the corner.
- 22. To come out; issue: Insincere compliments fell from their lips.
- 23. To apply oneself: fell to work immediately.
- 24. To be born. Used chiefly of lambs.
verb, transitive To cut down (a tree); fell.
noun- The act or an instance of falling.
- A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position.
- Something that has fallen: a fall of hail.
a. An amount that has fallen: a fall of two inches of rain.
b. The distance that something falls: The victim suffered a fall of three stories to the ground.
- Autumn.
- falls (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A waterfall.
- A downward movement or slope.
- Any of several pendent articles of dress, especially:
a. A veil hung from a woman's hat and down her back.
b. An ornamental cascade of lace or trimming attached to a dress, usually at the collar.
c. A woman's hairpiece with long, free-hanging hair.
a. An overthrow; a collapse: the fall of a government.
b. Armed capture of a place under siege: the fall of Troy.
- A reduction in value, amount, or degree.
- A marked, often sudden, decline in status, rank, or importance: “turned them in, set them up for prosecution; positioned them, as it were, for the fall” (Joan Didion).
a. A moral lapse.
b. A loss of chastity.
- often Fall Theology The loss of humanity's original innocence and happiness resulting from Adam and Eve's eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
- Sports
a. The act of holding a wrestling opponent on his or her back so that the shoulders remain in contact with the mat for a designated period, usually one or two seconds, thereby winning the match. Also called pin.
b. Any of various wrestling maneuvers resulting in such an act.
- Nautical
a. A break or rise in the level of a deck.
b. falls The apparatus used to hoist and transfer cargo or lifeboats.
- The end of a cable, rope, or chain that is pulled by the power source in hoisting.
a. The birth of an animal, especially a lamb.
b. All the animals born at one birth; a litter.
- A family of woodcock in flight. See Synonyms at flock1.
- Botany The outer series of perianth in the irises and related plants.
adjective- Of, having to do with, occurring in, or appropriate to the season of fall: fall fashion; fall harvests.
- Grown during the season of fall: fall crops.
Phrasal Verbs: fall apart To break down; collapse:
The rickety chair fell apart. To suffer a nervous breakdown:
He fell apart after years as a POW. fall away To withdraw one's friendship and support. To become gradually diminished in size. To drift off an established course. To lose weight.
fall back To give ground; retreat. To recede:
The waves fell back. fall behind To fail to keep up a pace; lag behind. To be financially in arrears.
fall down To fail to meet expectations; lag in performance:
fell down on the job. fall for To feel love for; be in love with. To be deceived or swindled by:
fell for the con artist's scheme and lost $200,000. fall in To take one's place in a military formation. To sink inward; cave in:
The roof of the old barn fell in. fall off To become less; decrease:
Stock prices have fallen off. The number of staff meetings fell off after a few months. To lose weight:
Toward the end of the dry season, the cattle fall off rapidly. Nautical To change course to leeward.
fall on/upon To attack suddenly and viciously:
Snipers and irregulars fell on the hapless patrol. To meet with; encounter:
a stockbroker who fell on hard times. fall outa. To leave a barracks, for example, in order to take one's place in a military formation.
b. To leave a military formation.
To quarrel:
The siblings fell out over their inheritance. To happen; occur. To be readily explainable; follow logically or naturally:
These facts fall out nicely from the new theory. fall through To fail; miscarry:
Our plans fell through at the last minute. fall to To begin an activity energetically:
“The press fell to with a will” (Russell Baker).
Origin:
Origin: Middle English fallen
Origin: , from Old English feallan
.