• | 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 cease to be erect; to take suddenly a recumbent
posture; to become prostrate; to drop; as, a child totters and falls; a
tree falls; a worshiper falls on his knees. |
• | To find a final outlet; to discharge its waters; to empty;
-- with into; as, the river Rhone falls into the Mediterranean. |
• | To become prostrate and dead; to die; especially, to die
by violence, as in battle. |
• | To cease to be active or strong; to die away; to lose
strength; to subside; to become less intense; as, the wind falls. |
• | To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; -- said of
the young of certain animals. |
• | To decline in power, glory, wealth, or importance; to
become insignificant; to lose rank or position; to decline in weight,
value, price etc.; to become less; as, the falls; stocks fell two
points. |
• | To be overthrown or captured; to be destroyed. |
• | To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded;
to sink into vice, error, or sin; to depart from the faith; to
apostatize; to sin. |
• | To become insnared or embarrassed; to be entrapped; to be
worse off than before; asm to fall into error; to fall into
difficulties. |
• | To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or
appear dejected; -- said of the countenance. |
• | To sink; to languish; to become feeble or faint; as, our
spirits rise and fall with our fortunes. |
• | To pass somewhat suddenly, and passively, into a new state
of body or mind; to become; as, to fall asleep; to fall into a passion;
to fall in love; to fall into temptation. |
• | To happen; to to come to pass; to light; to befall; to
issue; to terminate. |
• | To come; to occur; to arrive. |
• | To begin with haste, ardor, or vehemence; to rush or
hurry; as, they fell to blows. |
• | To pass or be transferred by chance, lot, distribution,
inheritance, or otherwise; as, the estate fell to his brother; the
kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals. |
• | To belong or appertain. |
• | To be dropped or uttered carelessly; as, an unguarded
expression fell from his lips; not a murmur fell from him. |
• | To let fall; to drop. |
• | To sink; to depress; as, to fall the voice. |
• | To diminish; to lessen or lower. |
• | To bring forth; as, to fall lambs. |
• | To fell; to cut down; as, to fall a tree. |
• | The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of
gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship. |
• | The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he
was walking on ice, and had a fall. |
• | Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin. |
• | Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office;
termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the
fall of the Roman empire. |
• | The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall
of Sebastopol. |
• | Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as,
the fall of prices; the fall of rents. |
• | A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the
close of a sentence. |
• | Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope. |
• | Descent of water; a cascade; a cataract; a rush of water down
a precipice or steep; -- usually in the plural, sometimes in the
singular; as, the falls of Niagara. |
• | The discharge of a river or current of water into the ocean,
or into a lake or pond; as, the fall of the Po into the Gulf of Venice. |
• | Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the
water of a stream has a fall of five feet. |
• | The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn. |
• | That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall
of snow. |
• | The act of felling or cutting down. |
• | Lapse or declension from innocence or goodness. Specifically:
The first apostasy; the act of our first parents in eating the
forbidden fruit; also, the apostasy of the rebellious angels. |
• | Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling
band; a faule. |
• | That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the
power is applied in hoisting. |