Definition of fall

• 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.