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.