fall

fall

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of fall in English

English Online Dictionary. What means fall‎? What does fall mean?

English

Etymology 1

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”).

Cognate with West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Low German fallen (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German fallen (“to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla (“to fall”), Icelandic falla (“to fall”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to attack, rush”).

Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall (“a falling, fall”) and Old English fealle (“trap, snare”), from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz (“a fall, trap”). Cognate with Dutch val, German Fall (“fall”) and German Falle (“trap, snare”), Danish fald, Swedish fall, Icelandic fall.

Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of fall of the leaf (1540s), from the falling of leaves during this season. Along with autumn, it mostly replaced the older name harvest as that name began to be associated strictly with the act of harvesting. Compare spring, which began as a shortening of “spring of the leaf”.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) enPR: fôl, IPA(key): /fɔl/
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: fäl IPA(key): /fɑl/
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /foːl/
    • (fool-fall merger) IPA(key): /fuːl/
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fôl, IPA(key): /fɔːl/
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): /fo(ː)l/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːl

Verb

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

  1. (heading, intransitive) To be moved downwards.
    1. To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
    2. To come down, to drop or descend.
    3. To come as if by dropping down.
      • 1971, Henry Raup Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:
        Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N […] dark clouds closing in over everything. At 3 in the afternoon the breeze came up from the S with a thick drizzle. Thus night fell, and thus we passed the rest of it.
    4. To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
    5. To be brought to the ground.
  2. (transitive) To move downwards.
    1. (obsolete) To let fall; to drop.
    2. (obsolete) To sink; to depress.
    3. (UK, US, dialect, archaic) To fell; to cut down.
  3. (intransitive) To change, often negatively.
    1. (copulative, in idiomatic expressions) To become.
      She has fallen ill.
      The children fell asleep in the back of the car.
      When did you first fall in love?
      fall silent, fall sick, fall pregnant, fall victim to something
      • 1971, Henry Raup Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:
        Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N and then it fell calm, […]
    2. (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
    3. (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle or by disease.
    4. (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
  5. To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
  6. (intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To diminish; to lessen or lower.
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To bring forth.
  9. (intransitive, obsolete) To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
  10. (intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
  11. (intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
  12. (intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
  13. (intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
    • 1879, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Volume II – Part IV: Ceremonial Institutions
      Primitive men […] do not make laws, they fall into customs.
  14. (intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
    • 1881, Benjamin Jowett (Thucydides)
      They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.
  15. (intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
  16. (intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
  17. (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To visit; to go to a place.
Quotations
Synonyms
  • (move to a lower position under the effect of gravity): drop, plummet, plunge
  • (come down): come down, descend, drop
  • (come to the ground deliberately): drop, lower oneself, prostrate oneself
  • (be brought to the ground):
  • (collapse; be overthrown or defeated): be beaten by, be defeated by, be overthrown by, be smitten by, be vanquished by,
  • (die): die
  • (be allotted to): be the responsibility of, be up to
  • (become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc)): dip, drop
  • (become): become, get
  • (cause (something) to descend to the ground): cut down (of a tree), fell, knock down, knock over, strike down
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “come down”): ascend, go up, rise
  • (antonym(s) of “come to the ground deliberately”): get up, pick oneself up, stand up
  • (collapse; be overthrown or defeated): beat, defeat, overthrow, smite, vanquish
  • (become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc)): rise
Coordinate terms
  • topple
  • tumble
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

fall (countable and uncountable, plural falls)

  1. The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
  2. A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
  4. (chiefly Canada, US, archaic in Britain) 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. [from 16th c.]
  5. A loss of greatness or status.
  6. That which falls or cascades.
  7. (sports) A crucial event or circumstance.
    1. (cricket, of a wicket) The action of a batsman being out.
    2. (curling) A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.
    3. (wrestling) An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
  8. A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
  9. (informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
  10. (nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
  11. An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
  12. A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
  13. The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.
Usage notes
  • The phrase have a fall, as opposed to fall over or fall down, is typically reserved for older people for whom a fall is more likely to be a medical emergency. However, this phrase can be considered patronizing by those to whom it is applied.
Synonyms
  • (act of moving to a lower position): descent, drop
  • (reduction): decrease, dip, drop, lowering, reduction
  • (season): autumn, (UK dialect) harvest, (UK dialect) back end
  • (loss of greatness or status): downfall
  • (blame; punishment): rap
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity”): ascent, rise
  • (antonym(s) of “reduction”): increase, rise
  • (antonym(s) of “loss of greatness or status”): ascent, rise
Derived terms
Translations

See also

  • falls

Etymology 2

Perhaps from the north-eastern Scottish pronunciation of whale.

Interjection

fall

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

Noun

fall (plural falls)

  1. (nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.
Derived terms
  • loose fall

References

Albanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish فال (fal, “fortune-telling”), from Arabic فَأْل (faʔl, “omen”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /faɫ/

Noun

fall m (plural falle, definite falli, definite plural fallet)

  1. fortune-telling

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

  • Bufli, G., Rocchi, L. (2021) “fall”, in A historical-etymological dictionary of Turkisms in Albanian (1555–1954), Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, page 155

Breton

Adjective

fall

  1. bad

Catalan

Etymology

Deverbal from fallir.

Noun

fall m (plural falls)

  1. cliff

Related terms

  • falla

Further reading

  • “fall” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse fall, from falla (“to fall”). The grammatical sense is a calque of Latin casus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fatl/

Noun

fall n (genitive singular fals, plural føll)

  1. fall, drop
  2. case (linguistics)

Declension

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fal/
  • Rhymes: -al

Verb

fall

  1. singular imperative of fallen
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of fallen

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse fall, from falla (“to fall”). The grammatical sense is a calque of Latin casus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fatl/
  • Rhymes: -atl

Noun

fall n (genitive singular falls, nominative plural föll)

  1. fall, drop
  2. (grammar) case
  3. (computing, programming) function; (subprogram, usually with formal parameters, returning a data value when called)
    Synonym: fallstefja
  4. indefinite accusative singular of fall

Declension

Derived terms

See also

  • falla (verb)

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

fall n (definite singular fallet, indefinite plural fall, definite plural falla or fallene)

  1. a fall
  2. case
    i fall ― in case
    i alle fall ― in any case

Derived terms

Related terms

  • falle (verb)

Verb

fall

  1. imperative of falle

References

  • “fall” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fɑlː/

Noun

fall n (definite singular fallet, indefinite plural fall, definite plural falla)

  1. a fall
  2. case

Derived terms

Verb

fall

  1. past tense of falle
  2. imperative of falle

References

  • “fall” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Irish

Alternative forms

  • faill (dative for nominative)

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *walsā. Cognate to Welsh gwall and Breton gwall.

Noun

fall f (genitive faille, nominative plural falla)

  1. neglect

Inflection

Descendants

  • Middle Irish: faill
    • Irish: faill

Mutation

References

Further reading

  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 faill”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse fall, from falla (“to fall”). The grammatical sense is a calque of Latin casus.

Pronunciation

Noun

fall n

  1. a fall (the act of falling)
  2. a fall, loss of greatness or wealth, a bankruptcy
    Romarrikets uppgång och fall ― the rise and fall of the Roman empire
  3. a slope, a waterfall, the height of a slope or waterfall
    fallet är omgivet av skog ― the fall is surrounded by forest
    fallet är sjutton meter ― the water falls seventeen metres; the decline is seventeen metres
  4. a (legal) case
    i alla fall ― anyhow (in all cases)
    i annat fall ― otherwise (in another case)
    i så fall ― if so (in such a case)
    i vilket fall som helst ― in any case
    i vart fall ― in any case

Declension

Related terms

Verb

fall

  1. imperative of falla

References

  • fall in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

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Related Words

falls

falling

fallen

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.