from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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2. The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as,
he was walking on ice, and had a fall.
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3. Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin.
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They thy fall conspire. --Denham.
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Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fall. --Prov. xvi.
18.
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4. Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office;
termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin;
overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire.
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Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall. --Pope.
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5. The surrender of a besieged fortress or town; as, the fall
of Sebastopol.
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6. Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation;
as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents.
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7. A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at
the close of a sentence.
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8. Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope.
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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.
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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.
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11. Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as,
the water of a stream has a fall of five feet.
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12. The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn.
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What crowds of patients the town doctor kills,
Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills.
--Dryden.
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13. That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy
fall of snow.
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14. The act of felling or cutting down. "The fall of timber."
--Johnson.
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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.
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16. Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling
band; a faule. --B. Jonson.
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17. That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the
power is applied in hoisting.
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{Fall herring} (Zool.), 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.
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