fallway

English

Etymology

From fall +‎ way.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: fall‧way

Noun

fallway (plural fallways)

1. (US) A well or opening, through the successive floors of a factory or warehouse or the decks of a ship, providing access for goods, material, or people.

   Synonym: drophole

   • 1940, “School Building Problems Solved by Kernerators”, in American School & University, volume 12, page 113, column 2:

     In existing buildings where no flue is available either large enough to provide a fallway or located conveniently for hopper doors, a basement-fed KERNERATOR provides all of the advantages except the hopper-door convenience

2. A hydraulic canal, as for a water-powered mill.
   • 1935, Louis Fischer, Soviet Journey:

     The remaining fallways are dry; the water that would otherwise beautify them is caught by the maw of the power station

See also

• hoistway

Further reading

• John Russell Bartlett (1877) “Fall-Way”, in Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 206.