- Fall
- Fall Fall, n.
1. 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.
[1913 Webster]
2. The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he was walking on ice, and had a fall. [1913 Webster]
3. Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin. [1913 Webster]
They thy fall conspire. --Denham. [1913 Webster]
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. --Prov. xvi. 18. [1913 Webster]
4. Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office; termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire. [1913 Webster]
Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
5. The surrender of a besieged fortress or town; as, the fall of Sebastopol. [1913 Webster]
6. Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents. [1913 Webster]
7. A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the close of a sentence. [1913 Webster]
8. Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope. [1913 Webster]
9. 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. [1913 Webster]
10. 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. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
11. Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the water of a stream has a fall of five feet. [1913 Webster]
12. The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn. [1913 Webster]
What crowds of patients the town doctor kills, Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
13. That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall of snow. [1913 Webster]
14. The act of felling or cutting down. ``The fall of timber.'' --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
15. 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. [1913 Webster]
16. Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling band; a faule. --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]
17. That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting. [1913 Webster]
{Fall herring} (Zo["o]l.), a herring of the Atlantic ({Clupea mediocris}); -- also called {tailor herring}, and {hickory shad}.
{To try a fall}, to try a bout at wrestling. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
