fall

Meanings

Verb

• To be moved downwards.
• To move downwards.
• To change, often negatively.
• To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
• To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
• To diminish; to lessen or lower.
• To bring forth.
• To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
• To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
• To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
• To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
• To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
• To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
• To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
• To hang down .

Noun

• The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
• A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
• 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 loss of greatness or status.
• That which falls or cascades.
• A crucial event or circumstance.
• A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
• Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
• The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
• An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
• A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
• The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard
• The chasing of a hunted whale.

Interjection

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

Related

Similar words

• drop, plummet, plunge
• come down, descend, drop
• drop, lower oneself, prostrate oneself
• : be beaten by, be defeated by, be overthrown by, be smitten by, be vanquished by,
• die
• be the responsibility of, be up to
• : dip, drop
• become, get
• : cut down , fell, knock down, knock over, strike down
• descent, drop
• decrease, dip, drop, lowering, reduction
• autumn, harvest, back end
• downfall
• rap

Opposite words

• ascend, go up, rise
• get up, , stand up
• : beat, defeat, overthrow, smite, vanquish
• : rise
• ascent, rise
• increase, rise

Origin

• 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"), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃lH-.
• 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"), Albanian fal ("forgive, pray, salute, greet"), Lithuanian pùlti ("to attack, rush").
• Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall, from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pōl-. Cognate with Dutch val, German Fall, Danish fald, Swedish fall, Icelandic fall.
• Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of Middle English 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”.
• Perhaps from the north-eastern Scottish pronunciation of whale.