“felling” is a form of
fell
/fɛl/ verb, noun, adjective, adverb, proper noun
Also a form of fall
Forms fells felling felled feller fellest
- verb (transitive) To make something fall; especially a tree.
- verb (transitive) To strike down, kill, destroy.
- verb (sewing) To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
- noun A cutting-down of timber.
- noun The stitching down of a fold of cloth; specifically, the portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down.
- noun (textiles) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.
- noun (archaic, rare) Skin, hide, pelt.
- noun (by extension) A covering of hair, wool, etc., especially when matted or thick; a fleece; also (chiefly in fell of hair), a thick head or mass of hair.
- noun (geography) High and barren landscape feature such as a mountain range or mountain terrain above the tree line.
- noun (archaic outside Northern England, Scotland) A rocky ridge or chain of mountains, particularly in the British Isles or Fennoscandia.
- noun (archaic outside Northern England, Scotland) A wild field or upland moor.
- adjective Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage. “one fell swoop”
- adjective (UK dialectal, Scotland) Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent
- adjective (UK dialectal, Scotland) Very large; huge.
- adjective (obsolete) Eager; earnest; intent.
- adverb Sharply; fiercely.
- noun (obsolete, rare) Anger; gall; melancholy.
- noun (mining) The finer portions of ore, which go through the meshes when the ore is sorted by sifting.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Synonyms
diabolical sadistic spiteful barbarous bowelless brutal compassionless cruel flagitious demonic despiteful diabolic incessive inclement inhuman inhumane malicious merciless nasty nonhumane hide felled seam drop strike down cut down fly vanish roughshod savage vicious
Etymology
From Middle English fellen, from Old English fellan, fiellan (“to cause to fall, strike down, fell, cut down, throw down, defeat, destroy, kill, tumble, cause to stumble”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallijan, from Proto-Germanic *fallijaną (“to fell, to cause to fall”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂peh₃lH-.
Cognate with Dutch vellen (“to fell, cut down”), German fällen (“to fell”), Danish fælde (“to fell”), Norwegian felle (“to fell”).
From Middle English fell, fel, vel, from Old English fel, fell (“hide, skin, pelt”), from Proto-West Germanic *fell, from Proto-Germanic *fellą, from Proto-Indo-European *pél-no- (“skin, animal hide”).
See also West Frisian fel, Dutch vel, German Fell, Latin pellis (“skin”), Lithuanian plėnė (“skin”), Russian плена́ (plená, “pelt”), Albanian plah (“to cover”), Ancient Greek πέλλᾱς (péllās, “skin”). Related to film, felt, pell, and pelt.
From Middle English fell, felle, from Old Norse fell (fjall, fiæl, “mountain range or mountain terrain above the tree line”), from Proto-Germanic *felzą, *fel(e)zaz, *falisaz (compare German Felsen 'boulder, cliff', Middle Low German vels 'hill, mountain'), from Proto-Indo-European *pels-; compare Irish aill (“boulder, cliff”), Ancient Greek πέλλα (pélla, “stone”), Pashto پرښه (parṣ̌a, “rock, rocky ledge”), Sanskrit पाषाण (pāṣāṇa, “stone”). Doublet of fjeld.
Cognates includes: Danish fjeld (fjæld), Faroese fjall (fjøll), Icelandic fjall (fell), Norwegian fjell (fjøll, fjødd, fjedd, fjedl, fjill, fill, fil, fel), Swedish fjäll (Old Swedish fiæl).
From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), either from Old French fel or from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-West Germanic *fali, *falu, from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Middle Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), German Low German fell (“rash, swift”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”). Compare also Middle High German vālant (“imp”) and Dutch fel (“fierce, feisty, bitter”). See felon.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Cruel; barbarous; inhuman; fierce; savage; ravenous.
- adjective Eager; earnest; intent. [Obs.]
- noun Gall; anger; melancholy. [Obs.]
- noun A skin or hide of a beast with the wool or hair on; a pelt; --used chiefly in composition, as woolfell.
Etymology [OE. fel, OF. fel cruel, fierce, perfidious; cf. AS. fel (only in comp.) OF. fel, as a noun also accus. felon, is fr. LL. felo, of unknown origin; cf. Arm fall evil, Ir. feal, Arm. falloni treachery, Ir. & Gael. feall to betray; or cf. OHG. fillan to flay, torment, akin to E. fell skin. Cf. Felon.]
Etymology [Cf. L. fel gall, bile, or E. fell, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fell”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details