fall

English Wikipedia has an article on:

fall

Wikipedia

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”.

• (General American) enPR: fôl, IPA^(key): /fɔl/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  (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/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

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.

      Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.

      • 1913, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., , , →OCLC, page 0091:

        There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

   2. To come down, to drop or descend.

      The rain fell at dawn.

      • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:

        Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.

   3. To come as if by dropping down.
      • 1898, William Le Queux, Whoso Findeth a Wife, page 256:

        Once or twice a noise fell upon his quick ear, and we halted, he standing revolver in hand in an attitude of defense. Each time, however, we ascertained that we had no occasion for alarm, the noise being made by some animal or bird  ...

      • 1904, Bram Stoker, The Jewel of Seven Stars, page 248:

        And then a sudden calm fell on us like a cloud of fear. There! on the table, lay the Jewel of Seven Stars, shining and sparkling with lurid light, as though each of the seven points of each of the seven stars gleamed through blood!

      • 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.

      • 1981, Dan Kirby, Schreiber's Choice, Ace Books, →ISBN:

        The horse wrangler, a tall, bronzed-face man, waved to the wagon driver. The driver laughed. […] The canvas cover rolled up suddenly and a terrible noise fell over the desert.

   4. To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.

      He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.

   5. To be brought to the ground.
2. (transitive) To move downwards.
   1. (obsolete) To let fall; to drop.
      • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, , →OCLC:

        For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.

   2. (obsolete) To sink; to depress.

      to fall the voice

   3. (UK, US, dialect, archaic) To fell; to cut down.

      to fall a tree

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

      • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1857, →OCLC, book the first (Poverty), page 27:

        At length they stood at the corner from which they had begun, and it had fallen quite dark, and they were no wiser.

      • 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.

      Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.

   3. (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle or by disease.

      This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.

   4. (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).

      The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.

      • 1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

        The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.

      • 1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Vol.1, pages 284–5:

        Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.

      • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

        Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.

5. To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.

   Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.

   Last year, Commencement fell on June 3.

   • 1978, Dwight David Eisenhower, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, Letters to Mamie, Doubleday Books:

     (Thus D-day fell on June 6 rather than the planned June 5.)

6. (intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.

   And so it falls to me to make this important decision.

   The estate fell to his brother.

   The kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.

   • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. , London: Bernard Lintott , →OCLC, canto II:

     If to her share some female errors fall, / Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To diminish; to lessen or lower.
   • 1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. , London: Awnsham and John Churchill, , published 1692, →OCLC:

     Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.

8. (transitive, obsolete) To bring forth.

   to fall lambs

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     The shepherd […] did […] fall part-colour'd lambs

9. (intransitive, obsolete) To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
   • 1672, The Office of the Good House-wife, page 27:

     As for Calves newly fallen, you must leave them with good Litter of fresh Straw until such qime as the Cows have licked and cleansed them,

   • 1805, John Lawrence, A general treatise on cattle, the ox, the sheep, and the swine, etc, page 100:

     My intended remarks are on the cords , and wiping dry the newly fallen calf

   • 1869, William Youatt, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases, page 382:

     another writer, adopting a similar opinion, affirms that it results from the lambs not being docked at a sufficiently early period; for "sometimes the ewe, in the ardour of her maternal affection, chews away the tail from her newly-fallen lamb, and none of these are afterwards affectd by the sturdy;

   • 1892, United States. Bureau of Animal Industry, Special Report on the History and Present Condition of the Sheep Industry of the United States, page 422:

     The newly fallen lambs are a peculiar sight, as they invariably come spotted or black ; but while the head and legs retain their inky black color, the wool grows out white as with the other Down breeds.

10. (intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Hebrews 4:1:

      Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

11. (intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.

    to fall into error;  to fall into difficulties

12. (intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 4:5:

      Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

    • 1712 (date written), Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:

      I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.

13. (intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Ruth 3:18:

      Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.

    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      […] An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.

    • 1701, [Jonathan Swift], “Chapter I”, in A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, with the Consequences They Had upon Both Those States, London: John Nutt , →OCLC, page 9:

      […] Polybius tells us, the beſt Government is that which conſiſts of three Forms, Regno, Optimatium, & Populi imperio. Which may be fairly Tranſlated, the Kings, Lords and Commons. […] the Romans fell upon this Model purely by chance, (which I take to have been Nature and common Reaſon) but the Spartans by Thought and Deſign.

    • 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.

    After arguing, they fell to blows.

    • 1881, Benjamin Jowett (Thucydides)

      They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.

15. (intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.

    An unguarded expression fell from his lips.

16. (intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).

    An Empire-style dress has a high waistline – directly under the bust – from which the dress falls all the way to a hem as low as the floor.

17. (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To visit; to go to a place.

    We'll fall over to the club tonight.

• c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

  Ghoaſt [of Clarence]. […] / To morrow in the battaile thinke on me, / And fall thy edgeleſſe ſword, diſpaire and die.

• (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

• (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

• topple
• tumble

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.
   • 1908, W B M Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

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.
   • 1816, John Pickering, A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America:

     A friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." [brackets in original]

5. A loss of greatness or status.

   the fall of Rome

6. That which falls or cascades.
   • 2010, Winter Pennington, Witch Wolf:

     A fall of hair tumbled down one side of her body like a veil.

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.
   • 2004, Zoe Diana Draelos, Hair Care: An Illustrated Dermatologic Handbook, →ISBN, page 202:

     Female patients with localized hair loss on the top of scalp could select a fall or a demiwig to camouflage crown and anterior scalp loss.

9. (informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.

   He set up his rival to take the fall.

10. (nautical) The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
    • 1919, Joseph Conrad, Typhoon:

      "[...] with one overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air."

    Have the goodness to secure the falls of the mizzen halyards.

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.
    • 1945, Tom Ronan, Strangers on the Ophir, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 113:

      Brooks fitted a new fall to his whip.

13. The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.

• 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.^[1][2]

• (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

• (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

• falls

Perhaps from the north-eastern Scottish pronunciation of whale.

fall

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

fall (plural falls)

1. (nautical) The chasing of a hunted whale.

• loose fall

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish فال (fal, “fortune-telling”), from Arabic فَأْل (faʔl, “omen”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /faɫ/

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

1. fortune-telling

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

fall

1. bad

Deverbal from fallir.

fall m (plural falls)

1. cliff

• falla

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

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

• IPA^(key): /fatl/

fall n (genitive singular fals, plural føll)

1. fall, drop
2. case (linguistics)

• IPA^(key): /fal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al

fall

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

Icelandic Wikipedia has an article on:

fall

Wikipedia ^is

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

• IPA^(key): /fatl/
• Rhymes: -atl

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

• falla (verb)

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

• falle (verb)

fall

1. imperative of falle

• “fall” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /fɑlː/

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

1. a fall
2. case

fall

1. past tense of falle
2. imperative of falle

• “fall” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• faill (dative for nominative)

From Proto-Celtic *walsā. Cognate to Welsh gwall and Breton gwall.^[1]

fall f (genitive faille, nominative plural falla)

1. neglect

• Middle Irish: faill
  • Irish: faill

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

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

• Audio:

  (file)

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

fall

1. imperative of falla

• fall in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)