Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity.
  • intransitive verb To drop oneself to a lower or less erect position.
  • intransitive verb To lose an upright or erect position suddenly.
  • intransitive verb To drop wounded or dead, especially in battle.
  • intransitive verb To hang down.
  • intransitive verb To be cast down.
  • intransitive verb To be directed toward or come into contact; rest.
  • intransitive verb To come into existence or occur as if by falling.
  • intransitive verb To occur at a specified time or place.
  • intransitive verb To be removed as if by falling.
  • intransitive verb To come forth as if by falling; issue.
  • intransitive verb To assume an expression of consternation or disappointment.
  • intransitive verb To undergo conquest or capture, especially as the result of an armed attack.
  • intransitive verb To experience defeat or ruin.
  • intransitive verb To lose office.
  • intransitive verb To move downward to a lower level; be reduced.
  • intransitive verb To slope downward.
  • intransitive verb To become less in amount or degree.
  • intransitive verb To diminish in pitch or volume.
  • intransitive verb To decline in financial value.
  • intransitive verb To give into temptation; suffer a moral lapse.
  • intransitive verb Theology To lose primordial innocence and happiness. Used of humanity as a result of the Fall.
  • intransitive verb To pass into a particular state, condition, or situation.
  • intransitive verb To come, as by chance.
  • intransitive verb To be given by assignment or distribution.
  • intransitive verb To be given by right or inheritance.
  • intransitive verb To be included within the range or scope of something.
  • intransitive verb To apply oneself.
  • intransitive verb To be born. Used chiefly of lambs.
  • intransitive verb To cut down (a tree); fell.
  • noun The act or an instance of falling.
  • noun A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position.
  • noun Something that has fallen.
  • noun An amount that has fallen.
  • noun The distance that something falls.
  • noun Autumn.
  • noun A waterfall.
  • noun A downward movement or slope.
  • noun Any of several pendent articles of dress, especially.
  • noun A veil hung from a woman's hat and down her back.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan ("to fall, fail, decay, die, attack"), from Proto-Germanic *fallanan (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōl-, *spōl- (“to fall”). Cognate with West Frisian falle ("to fall"), Dutch vallen ("to fall"), German fallen ("to fall"), Icelandic falla ("to fall"), Lithuanian pùlti, Ancient Greek σφάλλω (sphállō, "bring down, destroy, cause to stumble, deceive").

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Fall leaves after leaves fall."

    July 8, 2007

  • To pass into a new state or condition;

    enter upon a different state of

    being, action, or feeling;

    come to be, or to be engaged

    or fixed: as,

    to fall heir to an estate;

    to fall a victim;

    to fall asleep,

    ill, in love, etc.;

    to fall calm, as the wind;

    to fall into a snare,

    into a rage, etc.;

    the troops fell into line.

    --CD&C

    May 24, 2012

  • A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position.

    Heehee.

    January 11, 2018