befal

Verb

befall (third-person singular simple present befalls, present participle befalling, simple past befell, past participle befallen)

1. (transitive) To fall upon; fall all over; overtake.
   • At dusk an unusual calm befalls the wetlands.
2. (intransitive) To happen.
   • It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon [...] that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time.1485 July, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter I, in William Caxton, editor, Le Morte D’Arthur, volume 1

   Synonyms:

   come to pass

3. (transitive) To happen to.
   • Temptation befell me.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To fall.
   • With a thought I tooke for Maudline
     & a cruse of cockle pottage.
     with a thing thus tall, skie blesse you all:
     I befell into this dotage.c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665)

See all 5 meanings of befall