fall

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   slope downward

   The hills around here fall towards the ocean

2. 2
   verb

   move in a specified direction

   The line of men fall forward

3. 3
   verb

   suffer defeat, failure, or ruin

   We must stand or fall

4. 4
   verb

   lose one's chastity

   a fallen woman

5. 5
   verb

   be due

   payments fall on the 1st of the month

6. 6
   verb

   come under, be classified or included

   fall into a category

7. 7
   verb

   fall from clouds

   rain, snow and sleet were falling

8. 8
   noun

   a movement downward

   the rise and fall of the tides

Etymology

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to collapse, fall; to destroy”). Cognates Cognate with Scots faw (“to fall”), Yola vale, vall, vole (“to fall”), North Frisian faal, fåle (“to fall”), Saterland Frisian faale (“to fall”), West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Bavarian foin (“to fall”), Cimbrian ballan, vallan (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German and Low German fallen (“to fall”), Luxembourgish falen (“to fa…