Fall

Definition of Fall

Pronunciation: fạl
v. i.1.To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as, the apple falls; the tide falls; the mercury falls in the barometer.
[imp. Fell (fĕl); p. p. Fallen (fạl"'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Falling.]
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
- Luke x. 18.
2.To cease to be erect; to take suddenly a recumbent posture; to become prostrate; to drop; as, a child totters and falls; a tree falls; a worshiper falls on his knees.
I fell at his feet to worship him.
- Rev. xix. 10.
3.To find a final outlet; to discharge its waters; to empty; - with into; as, the river Rhone falls into the Mediterranean.
4.To become prostrate and dead; to die; especially, to die by violence, as in battle.
A thousand shall fall at thy side.
- Ps. xci. 7.
He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell.
- Byron.
5.To cease to be active or strong; to die away; to lose strength; to subside; to become less intense; as, the wind falls.
6.To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; - said of the young of certain animals.
7.To decline in power, glory, wealth, or importance; to become insignificant; to lose rank or position; to decline in weight, value, price etc.; to become less; as, the price falls; stocks fell two points.
I am a poor fallen man, unworthy now
To be thy lord and master.
- Shak.
The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.
- Sir J. Davies.
8.To be overthrown or captured; to be destroyed.
Heaven and earth will witness,
If Rome must fall, that we are innocent.
- Addison.
9.To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin; to depart from the faith; to apostatize; to sin.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
- Heb. iv. 11.
10.To become insnared or embarrassed; to be entrapped; to be worse off than before; as, to fall into error; to fall into difficulties.
11.To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; - said of the countenance.
Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
- Gen. iv. 5.
I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.
- Addison.
12.To sink; to languish; to become feeble or faint; as, our spirits rise and fall with our fortunes.
13.To pass somewhat suddenly, and passively, into a new state of body or mind; to become; as, to fall asleep; to fall into a passion; to fall in love; to fall into temptation.
14.To happen; to to come to pass; to light; to befall; to issue; to terminate.
The Romans fell on this model by chance.
- Swift.
Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.
- Ruth. iii. 18.
They do not make laws, they fall into customs.
- H. Spencer.
15.To come; to occur; to arrive.
The vernal equinox, which at the Nicene Council fell on the 21st of March, falls now [1694] about ten days sooner.
- Holder.
16.To begin with haste, ardor, or vehemence; to rush or hurry; as, they fell to blows.
They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.
- Jowett (Thucyd. ).
17.To pass or be transferred by chance, lot, distribution, inheritance, or otherwise; as, the estate fell to his brother; the kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.
18.To belong or appertain.
If to her share some female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.
- Pope.
19.To be dropped or uttered carelessly; as, an unguarded expression fell from his lips; not a murmur fell from him.
To fall abroad of
(Naut.) to strike against; - applied to one vessel coming into collision with another.
To fall among
to come among accidentally or unexpectedly.
To fall astern
(Naut.) to move or be driven backward; to be left behind; as, a ship falls astern by the force of a current, or when outsailed by another.
To fall away
a - To lose flesh; to become lean or emaciated; to pine.
b - To renounce or desert allegiance; to revolt or rebel.
c - To renounce or desert the faith; to apostatize.
d - To perish; to vanish; to be lost.
- Luke viii. 13.
e - To decline gradually; to fade; to languish, or become faint.
- Addison.
To fall back
a - To recede or retreat; to give way.
- Addison.
b - To fail of performing a promise or purpose; not to fulfill.
To fall back upon
a - (Mil.) To retreat for safety to (a stronger position in the rear, as to a fort or a supporting body of troops).
b - To have recourse to (a reserved fund, a more reliable alternative, or some other available expedient or support).
To fall calm
to cease to blow; to become calm.
To fall down
a - To prostrate one's self in worship.
b - To sink; to come to the ground.
- Ps. lxxii. 11.
c - To bend or bow, as a suppliant.
- Dryden.
d - (Naut.) To sail or drift toward the mouth of a river or other outlet.
To fall flat
to produce no response or result; to fail of the intended effect; as, his speech fell flat.
To fall foul of
a - (Naut.) To have a collision with; to become entangled with
b - To attack; to make an assault upon.
To fall from
to recede or depart from; not to adhere to; as, to fall from an agreement or engagement; to fall from allegiance or duty.
To fall from grace
(M. E. Ch.) to sin; to withdraw from the faith.
To fall home
(Ship Carp.) to curve inward; - said of the timbers or upper parts of a ship's side which are much within a perpendicular.
To fall in
a - To sink inwards; as, the roof fell in.
b - (Mil.) To take one's proper or assigned place in line; as, to fall in on the right.
c - To come to an end; to terminate; to lapse; as, on the death of Mr. B., the annuuity, which he had so long received, fell in.
d - To become operative.
To fall into one's hands
to pass, often suddenly or unexpectedly, into one's ownership or control; as, to spike cannon when they are likely to fall into the hands of the enemy.
- Macaulay.
To fall in with
a - To meet with accidentally; as, to fall in with a friend.
b - (Naut.) To meet, as a ship; also, to discover or come near, as land.
c - To concur with; to agree with; as, the measure falls in with popular opinion.
d - To comply; to yield to.
To fall off
a - To drop; as, fruits fall off when ripe.
- Addison.
b - To withdraw; to separate; to become detached; as, friends fall off in adversity.
c - To perish; to die away; as, words fall off by disuse.
- Shak.
d - To apostatize; to forsake; to withdraw from the faith, or from allegiance or duty.
Those captive tribes . . . fell off
From God to worship calves.
- Milton.
A soul exasperated in ills falls out
With everything, its friend, itself.
- Addison.
v. t.1.To let fall; to drop.
For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.
- Shak.
2.To sink; to depress; as, to fall the voice.
3.To diminish; to lessen or lower.
Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.
- Locke.
4.To bring forth; as, to fall lambs.
5.To fell; to cut down; as, to fall a tree.
n.1.The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship.
2.The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he was walking on ice, and had a fall.
3.Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin.
They thy fall conspire.
- Denham.
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Prov. xvi. 18.
4.Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office; termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire.
Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall.
- Pope.
5.The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall of Sebastopol.
6.Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents.
7.A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the close of a sentence.
8.Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope.
9.Descent of water; a cascade; a cataract; a rush of water down a precipice or steep; - usually in the plural, sometimes in the singular; as, the falls of Niagara.
10.The discharge of a river or current of water into the ocean, or into a lake or pond; as, the fall of the Po into the Gulf of Venice.
11.Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the water of a stream has a fall of five feet.
12.The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn.
What crowds of patients the town doctor kills,
Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills.
- Dryden.
13.That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall of snow.
14.The act of felling or cutting down.
15.Lapse or declension from innocence or goodness. Specifically: The first apostasy; the act of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit; also, the apostasy of the rebellious angels.
16.Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling band; a faule.
17.That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.
Fall herring
(Zool.) a herring of the Atlantic (Clupea mediocris); - also called tailor herring, and hickory shad.
To try a fall
to try a bout at wrestling.
- Shak.

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