fall (fôl)

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[Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan.]

verb: fell (fĕl), fall·en (fốlən), fall·ing, falls. 

intransitive verb 

1. To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity.
2. To drop oneself to a lower or less erect position: I fell back in my chair. The pilgrims fell to their knees.
3. 1. To lose an upright or erect position suddenly.
   2. To drop wounded or dead, especially in battle.
4. To go or come as if by falling: All grief fell from our hearts. Night fell quickly.
5. To come to rest; settle: The light fell on my book.
6. To hang down: The child's hair fell in ringlets.
7. To be cast down: Her eyes fell.
8. To assume an expression of consternation or disappointment: His face fell when he heard the report.
9. To undergo conquest or capture, especially as the result of an armed attack: The city fell after a long siege.
10. 1. To experience defeat or ruin: After 300 years the dynasty fell.
    2. To lose office: The disgraced prime minister fell from power.
11. To slope downward: The rolling hills fall gently toward the coast.
12. 1. To lessen in amount or degree: The air pressure is falling.
    2. To decline in financial value: Last year, stocks fell sharply.
13. To diminish in pitch or volume: My friend's voice fell to a whisper.
14. 1. To give in to temptation; sin.
    2. Theology To lose primordial innocence and happiness. Used of humanity as a result of the Fall.
    3. To lose one's chastity.
15. To pass into a particular state, condition, or situation: fell silent; fall in love.
16. To occur at a specified time: New Year's Day falls on a Tuesday this year.
17. To occur at a specified place: The stress falls on the last syllable.
18. To come, as by chance: fell among a band of thieves; a thought that fell into his mind.
19. 1. To be given by assignment or distribution: The greatest task fell to me.
    2. To be given by right or inheritance.
20. 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.

transitive verb 

To cut down (a tree); fell.

noun 

1. The act or an instance of falling.
2. A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position.
3. Something that has fallen: a fall of hail.
4. 1. An amount that has fallen: a fall of two inches of rain.
   2. The distance that something falls: The victim suffered a fall of three stories to the ground.
5. Autumn.
6. A waterfall.
7. A downward movement or slope.
8. Any of several pendent articles of dress, especially:
   1. A veil hung from a woman's hat and down her back.
   2. An ornamental cascade of lace or trimming attached to a dress, usually at the collar.
   3. A woman's hairpiece with long, free-hanging hair.
9. 1. An overthrow; a collapse: the fall of a government.
   2. Armed capture of a place under siege: the fall of Troy.
10. A reduction in value, amount, or degree.
11. 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)
12. 1. A moral lapse.
    2. A loss of chastity.
13. 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.
14. Sports
    1. 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
    2. Any of various wrestling maneuvers resulting in such an act.
15. Nautical
    1. A break or rise in the level of a deck.
    2. falls. The apparatus used to hoist and transfer cargo or lifeboats.
16. The end of a cable, rope, or chain that is pulled by the power source in hoisting.
17. 1. The birth of an animal, especially a lamb.
    2. All the animals born at one birth; a litter.
18. A family of woodcock in flight. See synonyms at flock¹
19. Botany The outer series of perianth in the irises and related plants.

adjective 

1. Of, having to do with, occurring in, or appropriate to the season of fall: fall fashion; fall harvests.
2. 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

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 out

To leave a barracks, for example, in order to take one's place in a military formation. 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)

idioms

fall back on

To rely on: fall back on old friends in time of need. To resort to: I had to fall back on my savings when I was unemployed.

fall between (the) two stools

To fail because of an inability to reconcile or choose between two courses of action.

fall flat

To fail miserably when attempting to achieve a result. To have no effect: The jokes fell flat.

fall foul

Nautical To collide. Used of vessels. To clash: fell foul of the law.

fall from grace

To experience a major reduction in status or prestige.

fall into line

To adhere to established rules or predetermined courses of action.

fall in with

To agree with or be in harmony with: Their views fall in with ours. To associate or begin to associate with: fell in with the wrong crowd.

fall on deaf ears

To go unheeded; be ignored completely: “Moscow's own familiar charges . . . will also fall on deaf ears” (Foreign Affairs)

fall over backward

To overexert oneself to do or accomplish something: We fell over backward to complete the project on time.

fall over (oneself)

To display inordinate, typically effusive, enthusiasm: fell over themselves to impress the general's wife.

fall prey to

To be put into such a vulnerable position as to be at risk of harm, destruction, or invasion: a person who fell prey to swindlers; did not want the country to fall prey to terrorists.

fall short

To fail to attain a specified amount, level, or degree: an athlete whose skill fell far short of expectations. To prove inadequate: Food supplies fell short.

fall through the cracks

To pass unnoticed, neglected, or unchecked: “In the past, many learning disabled children fell through the cracks” (Judith Harkness Richardson)