fall

Verb

fall (third-person singular simple present falls, present participle falling, simple past fell, past participle fallen)

1. (intransitive) To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
   • Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.
   • I fell unconscious on the floor.

   Synonyms:

   drop, plummet, plunge

2. (intransitive) To come down, to drop or descend.
   • The rain fell at dawn.
   • Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond

   Synonyms:

   come down, descend, drop, cut down, fell, knock down, knock over, strike down

3. (intransitive) To come as if by dropping down.
   • Once or twice a noise fell upon his quick ear, and we halted, he standing revolver in hand in an attitude of defense. Each time, however, we ascertained that we had no occasion for alarm, the noise being made by some animal or bird ...1898, William Le Queux, Whoso Findeth a Wife, page 256
   • And then a sudden calm fell on us like a cloud of fear. There! on the table, lay the Jewel of Seven Stars, shining and sparkling with lurid light, as though each of the seven points of each of the seven stars gleamed through blood!1904, Bram Stoker, The Jewel of Seven Stars, page 248
4. (intransitive) To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
   • He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.

   Synonyms:

   drop, lower oneself, prostrate oneself

5. (intransitive) To be brought to the ground.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To let fall; to drop.
   • For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
   • Ghoaſt [of Clarence]. […] / To morrow in the battaile thinke on me, / And fall thy edgeleſſe ſword, diſpaire and die.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
7. (obsolete, transitive) To sink; to depress.
   • to fall the voice
8. (UK, US, archaic, dialectal, transitive) To fell; to cut down.
   • to fall a tree
9. (copulative, intransitive) To become (chiefly used with negative states).
   • Near-synonyms: become, get, go, turn, come, grow, wax
   • She has fallen ill.

   Synonyms:

   become, get, go, turn, come, grow, wax

10. (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
    • Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.

    Synonyms:

    be beat by, be defeat by, be overthrow by, be smitten by, be vanquish by

11. (euphemistic, formal, intransitive) To die, especially in battle or by disease.
    • This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.

    Synonyms:

    die

12. (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
    • The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.
    • The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued

    Synonyms:

    dip, drop

Noun (1)

fall (countable and uncountable, plural falls)

1. The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
   • the fall of the snow
   • the fall of the water

   Synonyms:

   descent, drop

2. A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
   • “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   decrease, dip, drop, lowering, reduction

3. (Canada, US, archaic) 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.
   • A friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." [brackets in original]1816, John Pickering, A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America

   Synonyms:

   autumn, harvest, back end

4. A waterfall.
   • The celebrated fall of the Liffey, near Ballymore Eustace, is named Pool-a-Phooka, or The Pooka's Hole.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 371
5. A loss of greatness or status.
   • the fall of Rome

   Synonyms:

   downfall

6. That which falls or cascades.
   • A fall of hair tumbled down one side of her body like a veil.2010, Winter Pennington, Witch Wolf
   • The heat of Daniel's gaze was nearly incendiary as he took in the fall of her hair spilling across her shoulders and down to her elbows.2011, Elizabeth Camden, The Lady of Bolton Hill, page 162
7. The height of that which falls or cascades.
8. The action of a batsman being out.
9. A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.
10. An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
11. A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
    • Female patients with localized hair loss on the top of scalp could select a fall or a demiwig to camouflage crown and anterior scalp loss.2004, Zoe Diana Draelos, Hair Care: An Illustrated Dermatologic Handbook, →ISBN, page 202
12. (US, informal) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
    • He set up his rival to take the fall.

    Synonyms:

    rap

Interjection

1. The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.

Noun (2)

fall (plural falls)

1. The chasing of a hunted whale.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Fall

the Fall

1. The sudden fall of humanity into a state of sin, as brought about by the transgression of Adam and Eve.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Fall

Fall (plural Falls)

1. A surname.