fall
/fɔːl/ verb, noun, interjection, proper noun
Forms falls falling fell fallen the Fall fal
- verb To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity. “Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.”
- verb To come down, to drop or descend. “The rain fell at dawn.”
- verb To come as if by dropping down.
- verb To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself. “He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.”
- verb To be brought to the ground.
- verb (obsolete) To let fall; to drop.
- verb (obsolete) To sink; to depress. “to fall the voice”
- verb (UK, US, dialect, archaic) To fell; to cut down. “to fall a tree”
- noun The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity. “the fall of the snow”
- noun A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
- noun (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.
- noun A waterfall.
- noun A loss of greatness or status. “the fall of Rome”
- noun That which falls or cascades.
- noun The height of that which falls or cascades.
- noun (cricket, of a wicket) The action of a batsman being out.
- interjection (nautical) The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.
- noun (nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.
- proper noun (theology) The sudden fall of humanity into a state of sin, as brought about by the transgression of Adam and Eve.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
drop plummet plunge come down descend cut down fell knock down knock over strike down lower oneself prostrate oneself become get go turn come grow wax be beat by autumn spill tumble descent declivity decline declination declension downslope downfall
Antonyms
ascend go up rise get up pick oneself up stand up beat defeat overthrow smite vanquish ascent
Etymology
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”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to collapse, fall; to destroy”).
Cognate with Scots faw (“to fall”), Yola vale, vall, vole (“to fall”), North Frisian faal, fåle (“to fall”), Saterland Frisian faale (“to fall”), West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Bavarian foin (“to fall”), Cimbrian ballan, vallan (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German and Low German fallen (“to fall”), Luxembourgish falen (“to fall”), Yiddish פֿאַלן (faln, “to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish falla (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla, falle (“to fall”); also Latin aboleō (“to destroy; to die”), Ancient Greek ὄλλῡμι (óllūmi, “to destroy; to lose”), Armenian եղեռն (eġeṙn, “crime; calamity, catastrophe; slaughter”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to fall; to attack, assault”).
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 Yola vall (“fall”), Dutch val (“fall”), German Fall (“fall”), Danish fald (“fall”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fall (“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”.
Perhaps from the north-eastern Scottish pronunciation of whale.
Webster’s 1913
- verb 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.
- verb 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.
- verb To let fall; to drop. [Obs.]
- verb To sink; to depress; as, to fall the voice. [Obs.]
Etymology [AS. feallan; akin to D. vallen, OS. & OHG. fallan, G. fallen, Icel. Falla, Sw. falla, Dan. falde, Lith. pulti, L. fallere to deceive, Gr. sfa`llein to cause to fall, Skr. sphal, sphul, to tremble. Cf. Fail, Fell, v. t., to cause to fall.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fall”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details