Fall
English Meaning
To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as, the apple falls; the tide falls; the mercury falls in the barometer.
- To drop or come down freely under the influence of gravity.
- To drop oneself to a lower or less erect position: I fell back in my chair. The pilgrims fell to their knees.
- To lose an upright or erect position suddenly.
- To drop wounded or dead, especially in battle.
- To go or come as if by falling: All grief fell from our hearts. Night fell quickly.
- To come to rest; settle: The light fell on my book.
- To hang down: The child's hair fell in ringlets.
- To be cast down: Her eyes fell.
- To assume an expression of consternation or disappointment: His face fell when he heard the report.
- To undergo conquest or capture, especially as the result of an armed attack: The city fell after a long siege.
- To experience defeat or ruin: After 300 years the dynasty fell.
- To lose office: The disgraced prime minister fell from power.
- To slope downward: The rolling hills fall gently toward the coast.
- To lessen in amount or degree: The air pressure is falling.
- To decline in financial value: Last year, stocks fell sharply.
- To diminish in pitch or volume: My friend's voice fell to a whisper.
- To give in to temptation; sin.
- Theology To lose primordial innocence and happiness. Used of humanity as a result of the Fall.
- To lose one's chastity.
- To pass into a particular state, condition, or situation: fell silent; fall in love.
- To occur at a specified time: New Year's Day falls on a Tuesday this year.
- To occur at a specified place: The stress falls on the last syllable.
- To come, as by chance: fell among a band of thieves; a thought that fell into his mind.
- To be given by assignment or distribution: The greatest task fell to me.
- To be given by right or inheritance.
- To be included within the range or scope of something: The specimens fall into three categories.
- To come into contact; strike: My gaze fell on a small book in the corner.
- To come out; issue: Insincere compliments fell from their lips.
- To apply oneself: fell to work immediately.
- To be born. Used chiefly of lambs.
- To cut down (a tree); fell.
- The act or an instance of falling.
- A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position.
- Something that has fallen: a fall of hail.
- An amount that has fallen: a fall of two inches of rain.
- The distance that something falls: The victim suffered a fall of three stories to the ground.
- Autumn.
- A waterfall.
- A downward movement or slope.
- Any of several pendent articles of dress, especially:
- A veil hung from a woman's hat and down her back.
- An ornamental cascade of lace or trimming attached to a dress, usually at the collar.
- A woman's hairpiece with long, free-hanging hair.
- An overthrow; a collapse: the fall of a government.
- Armed capture of a place under siege: the fall of Troy.
- A reduction in value, amount, or degree.
- 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).
- A moral lapse.
- A loss of chastity.
- 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.
- Sports 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.
- Sports Any of various wrestling maneuvers resulting in such an act.
- Nautical A break or rise in the level of a deck.
- Nautical The apparatus used to hoist and transfer cargo or lifeboats.
- The end of a cable, rope, or chain that is pulled by the power source in hoisting.
- The birth of an animal, especially a lamb.
- All the animals born at one birth; a litter.
- A family of woodcock in flight. See Synonyms at flock1.
- Botany The outer series of perianth in the irises and related plants.
- Of, having to do with, occurring in, or appropriate to the season of fall: fall fashion; fall harvests.
- Grown during the season of fall: fall crops.
- fall apart To break down; collapse: The rickety chair fell apart.
- fall apart To suffer a nervous breakdown: He fell apart after years as a POW.
- fall away To withdraw one's friendship and support.
- fall away To become gradually diminished in size.
- fall away To drift off an established course.
- fall away To lose weight.
- fall back To give ground; retreat.
- fall back To recede: The waves fell back.
- fall behind To fail to keep up a pace; lag behind.
- fall 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.
- fall for 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.
- fall in 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.
- fall off To lose weight: Toward the end of the dry season, the cattle fall off rapidly.
- fall off Nautical To change course to leeward.
- on To attack suddenly and viciously: Snipers and irregulars fell on the hapless patrol.
- on 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.
- fall out To leave a military formation.
- fall out To quarrel: The siblings fell out over their inheritance.
- fall out To happen; occur.
- fall out 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).
- on To rely on: fall back on old friends in time of need.
- on 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.
- fall flat To have no effect: The jokes fell flat.
- foul Nautical To collide. Used of vessels.
- foul 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.
- fall in with 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).
- 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.
- fall short 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).