(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To find a final outlet; to discharge its waters; to empty;
-- with into; as, the river Rhone falls into the Mediterranean.
(v. t.) To become prostrate and dead; to die; especially, to die
by violence, as in battle.
(v. t.) To cease to be active or strong; to die away; to lose
strength; to subside; to become less intense; as, the wind falls.
(v. t.) To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; -- said of
the young of certain animals.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To be overthrown or captured; to be destroyed.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To become insnared or embarrassed; to be entrapped; to be
worse off than before; asm to fall into error; to fall into
difficulties.
(v. t.) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or
appear dejected; -- said of the countenance.
(v. t.) To sink; to languish; to become feeble or faint; as, our
spirits rise and fall with our fortunes.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To happen; to to come to pass; to light; to befall; to
issue; to terminate.
(v. t.) To come; to occur; to arrive.
(v. t.) To begin with haste, ardor, or vehemence; to rush or
hurry; as, they fell to blows.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To belong or appertain.
(v. t.) To be dropped or uttered carelessly; as, an unguarded
expression fell from his lips; not a murmur fell from him.
(v. t.) To let fall; to drop.
(v. t.) To sink; to depress; as, to fall the voice.
(v. t.) To diminish; to lessen or lower.
(v. t.) To bring forth; as, to fall lambs.
(v. t.) To fell; to cut down; as, to fall a tree.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he
was walking on ice, and had a fall.
(n.) Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin.
(n.) Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office;
termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the
fall of the Roman empire.
(n.) The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall
of Sebastopol.
(n.) Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as,
the fall of prices; the fall of rents.
(n.) A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the
close of a sentence.
(n.) Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the
water of a stream has a fall of five feet.
(n.) The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn.
(n.) That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall
of snow.
(n.) The act of felling or cutting down.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling
band; a faule.
(n.) That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the
power is applied in hoisting.
