v., fell (fĕl), fall·en (fô'lən), fall·ing, falls.

v.intr.

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.

v.tr.

To cut down (a tree); fell.

n.

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. falls (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 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. 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.
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.

adj.

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

1. To break down; collapse: The rickety chair fell apart.
2. To suffer a nervous breakdown: He fell apart after years as a POW.

fall away

1. To withdraw one's friendship and support.
2. To become gradually diminished in size.
3. To drift off an established course.
4. To lose weight.

fall back

1. To give ground; retreat.
2. To recede: The waves fell back.

fall behind

1. To fail to keep up a pace; lag behind.
2. To be financially in arrears.

fall down

1. To fail to meet expectations; lag in performance: fell down on the job.

fall for

1. To feel love for; be in love with.
2. To be deceived or swindled by: fell for the con artist's scheme and lost $200,000.

fall in

1. To take one's place in a military formation.
2. To sink inward; cave in: The roof of the old barn fell in.

fall off

1. To become less; decrease: Stock prices have fallen off. The number of staff meetings fell off after a few months.
2. To lose weight: Toward the end of the dry season, the cattle fall off rapidly.
3. Nautical. To change course to leeward.

fall on or upon

1. To attack suddenly and viciously: Snipers and irregulars fell on the hapless patrol.
2. To meet with; encounter: a stockbroker who fell on hard times.

fall out

1. 1. To leave a barracks, for example, in order to take one's place in a military formation.
   2. To leave a military formation.
2. To quarrel: The siblings fell out over their inheritance.
3. To happen; occur.
4. To be readily explainable; follow logically or naturally: These facts fall out nicely from the new theory.

fall through

1. To fail; miscarry: Our plans fell through at the last minute.

fall to

1. To begin an activity energetically: “The press fell to with a will” (Russell Baker).

idioms:

fall back on (or upon)

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

fall between (the) two stools

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

fall flat

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

fall foul (or afoul)

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

fall from grace

1. To experience a major reduction in status or prestige.

fall into line

1. To adhere to established rules or predetermined courses of action.

fall in with

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

fall on deaf ears

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

fall over backward (or backwards)

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

fall over (oneself)

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

fall prey to

1. 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

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

fall through the cracks

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

[Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan.]

also fall through

verb

1. To move downward in response to gravity: descend, drop. See rise/fall.
2. To go from a more erect posture to a less erect posture: drop, sink, slump. See rise/fall.
3. To come to the ground suddenly and involuntarily: drop, go down, nose-dive, pitch, plunge, spill, topple, tumble. Idioms: take afallheaderplungespilltumble. See rise/fall.
4. To undergo capture, defeat, or ruin: collapse, go down, go under, surrender, topple. See resist/yield, win/lose/recovery.
5. To slope downward: decline, descend, dip, drop, pitch, sink. See rise/fall.
6. To become or cause to become less active or intense: abate, bate, die (away, down, off. or out), ease (off or up), ebb, fall off, lapse, let up, moderate, remit, slacken, slack off, subside, wane. See increase/decrease.
7. To undergo a sharp, rapid descent in value or price: dive, drop, nose-dive, plummet, plunge, sink, skid, slump, tumble. Idioms: take a suddendowntrenddownturn. See increase/decrease.
8. To undergo moral deterioration: sink, slip. Idioms: gobadwrong. See right/wrong.
9. To take place at a set time: come, occur. See happen.
10. To come as by lot or inheritance: devolve, pass. See reach/unreachable.

phrasal verb - fall back

1. To move back in the face of enemy attack or after a defeat: draw back, pull back, pull out, retire, retreat, withdraw. Idioms: beat a retreat, givegroundway. See forward/backward.
2. To move in a reverse direction: back, backpedal, backtrack, retreat, retrocede, retrograde, retrogress. Idioms: retrace one's steps. See forward/backward.

phrasal verb - fall down

To be unsuccessful: choke, fail, fall through. Informal flop. Slang bomb. Idioms: fail of success, fall short,, thrive/fail/exist.

phrasal verb - fall off

1. To decline, as in value or quantity, very gradually: drop off, sag, slip. See increase/decrease.
2. To become or cause to become less active or intense: abate, bate, die (away, down, off. or out), ease (off or up), ebb, fall, lapse, let up, moderate, remit, slacken, slack off, subside, wane. See increase/decrease.

phrasal verb - fall on (or upon)

To set upon with violent force: aggress, assail, assault, attack, beset, go at, have at, sail into, storm, strike. Informal light into, pitch into,, attack/defend.

phrasal verb - fall through

To be unsuccessful: choke, fail. Informal fall down, flop. Slang bomb. Idioms: fail of success, fall short,, thrive/fail/exist.

noun

1. The act of dropping from a height: descent, drop. See rise/fall.
2. A sudden involuntary drop to the ground: dive, nosedive, pitch, plunge, spill, tumble. Informal header. See rise/fall.
3. A downward slope or distance: decline, declivity, descent, drop, pitch. See rise/fall.
4. A disastrous overwhelming defeat or ruin: collapse, downfall, waterloo. See thrive/fail/exist.
5. A usually swift downward trend, as in prices: decline, descent, dip, dive, downslide, downswing, downtrend, downturn, drop, drop-off, nosedive, plunge, skid, slide, slump, tumble. See increase/decrease.

Idioms beginning with fall:
falling down drunk
fall over
fall apart
fall asleep
fall off
fall back on
fall behind
fall through the cracks
fall down
fall flat
fall in place
fall on
fall on deaf ears
fall on one's face
fall on one's feet
fall short of
fall through
fall to
fall off the wagon

See also bottom drops (falls) out; break one's fall; easy as pie (falling off a log); let drop (fall); let the chips fall where they may; ride for a fall; take the fall.

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n

Definition: descent; lowering
Antonyms: ascent, climb, rise, scaling

v

Definition: be overthrown by enemy; surrender
Antonyms: advance, attain, overcome, overthrow, reach, win

v

Definition: descend; become lower
Antonyms: ascend, climb, go up, rise, scale

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v. past fell; past part. fallen 1. (of a building or place) be captured or defeated: their mountain strongholds fell to enemy attack.

2. die in battle: an English leader who had fallen at the hands of the Danes.

n.

the loss of a city or fortified place during battle: the fall of Jerusalem.

fall short of (of a missile) fail to reach its target.

fall back move or turn back; retreat.

fall in take one's place in a military formation:

the soldiers fell in by the side of the road.

fall out leave one's place in a military formation, or on parade:

the two policemen at the rear fell out of the formation.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

A form of mass movement in which fractured rock and soil separates into blocks and falls away from the parent slope. Debris falls and earth falls occur on cliffs as joints weaken or as the slope is undercut. Rock falls occur on high and steep rock slopes and are of major importance in rock slope erosion.

The slope of a pipe, conduit, or channel usually expressed in inches per foot (or centimeters per meter) or in percent.

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The study of materials or objects falling onto the earth was first initiated by Charles Fort in his remarkable work The Book of the Damned (1919). Fort collected and correlated accounts of the most astonishing variety of falls, including black rain, red snow, butter, manna, large blocks of ice, frogs, periwinkles, and hailstones with portraits on them. He also distinguished selective falls in which different objects were apparently sorted before descent. Fort was not only concerned with the bizarre nature of authenticated falls, but also by the principle of selectivity that appeared to govern descent.

Since Fort's death, further data on falls and other Fortean phenomena have been collected by groups such as the Fortean Society and the International Fortean Organization and by such individuals as William R. Corliss and Robert J. M. Rickard, editor of the Fortean Times.

Sources:

Clark, Jerome. Encyclopedia of Strange and Unexplained Phenomena. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993.

Corliss, William R., ed. Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena. Glen Arm, Md.: The Sourcebook Project, 1977.

——. Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipitation, and Related Weather Phenomena: A Catalog of Geophysical Anomalies. Glen Arm, Md.: The Sourcebook Project, 1983.

Fort, Charles. The Books of Charles Fort. New York: Henry Holt, 1941.

While walking is a common clinical sign in severe ataxia and incoordination due to any cause.

• f. disease — severe nutritional deficiency of copper in cattle which causes sudden death due to myocardial degeneration.
• f. easily — involuntary falling down.
• f. to one side — involuntary falling down, always to one side.

The drooping lower petal of the flowers of irises and related plants.

IN BRIEF: A sudden drop from an upright position.

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. — Alexander Hamilton, (c.1756-1804), American statesman.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
v. intr. - falde, sænke sig, lægge sig, give sig til at
v. tr. - falde på, ramme
n. - fald, nedgang, hældning, efterår, kuld

idioms:

• fall about    falde om af grin
• fall apart    falde fra hinanden, gå i stykker
• fall asleep    falde i søvn
• fall away    hentæres
• fall back    falde tilbage
• fall back on    gå tilbage til, måtte nøjes med
• fall behind    komme bagud
• fall down    falde ned
• fall for    falde for, blive forgabet i
• fall foul of    rage uklar med
• fall from grace    falde i unåde
• fall guy    syndebuk, godtroende fjols
• fall ill    blive syg
• fall in    styrte sammen, træde an
• fall in love    forelske sig
• fall in with    tilfældigvis møde
• fall into disrepair    forfalde, blive forfalden
• fall into line    slutte op
• fall into place    falde på plads
• fall into step</