Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Chiefly British An upland stretch of open country; a moor.
- noun A barren or stony hill.
- noun The hide of an animal; a pelt.
- noun A thin membrane directly beneath the hide.
- adjective Of an inhumanly cruel nature; fierce.
- adjective Capable of destroying; lethal.
- adjective Dire; sinister.
- adjective Scots Sharp and biting.
- idiom (at/in) All at once.
- transitive verb To cause to fall by striking; cut or knock down.
- transitive verb To kill.
- transitive verb To sew or finish (a seam) with the raw edges flattened, turned under, and stitched down.
- noun The timber cut down in one season.
- noun A felled seam.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A cutting down; a felling.
- noun In sewing, a flat, smooth seam between two pieces of a fabric, made by laying down the wider of the two edges left projecting by the joining seam over the narrower edge and hemming it down.
- noun In weaving, the line of termination of a web in the process of weaving, formed by the last weft-thread driven up by the lay; the line to which the warp is at any instant wefted.
- Sharply; fiercely.
- noun A hill, especially a rocky eminence: as, Mickle Fell, Scawfell, and Scawfell Pike, the last the highest mountain in England proper.
- noun A stretch of bare, elevated land; a moor; a down.
- noun The skin or hide of an animal; a pelt; hence, an integument of any kind.
- noun A hairy covering; a head of hair.
- noun In mining, one of the many names of lead ore formerly current in Derbyshire, England.
- To cause to fall; throw down; cut down; bring to the ground, either by cutting, as with ax or sword, or by striking, as with a club or the fist: as, to
fell trees; to fell an ox; to fell an antagonist at fisticuffs. - In sewing, to flatten on and sew down level with the cloth: as, to
fell a seam. - To finish the weaving of (a web, or piece of cloth).
- noun Preterit of
fall . - Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless.
- Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; clever; as, a fell cheese; a fell bodie.
- noun Gall; anger; melancholy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A barren or rocky hill.
- noun A wild field; a moor.
- adjective Cruel; barbarous; inhuman; fierce; savage; ravenous.
- adjective obsolete Eager; earnest; intent.
- noun obsolete Gall; anger; melancholy.
- noun (Sewing) A form of seam joining two pieces of cloth, the edges being folded together and the stitches taken through both thicknesses.
- noun (Weaving) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.
- imp. of
fall . - transitive verb To cause to fall; to prostrate; to bring down or to the ground; to cut down.
- noun A skin or hide of a beast with the wool or hair on; a pelt; -- used chiefly in composition, as wool
fell . - noun (Mining) The finer portions of ore which go through the meshes, when the ore is sorted by sifting.
- transitive verb To sew or hem; -- said of seams.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic, except, UK A rocky ridge or chain of
mountains . - noun archaic, except, UK A wild
field or upland moor - adjective Of a
strong andcruel nature;eagre andunsparing ;grim ;fierce ;ruthless ;savage . - adjective Scotland Strong and
fiery ;biting ;keen ;sharp ;pungent ;clever . - adverb
Sharply ;fiercely . - noun That portion of a
kilt , from the waist to the seat, where thepleats are stitched down
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The Consumer Prices Index fell 0.2% last month - i.e. prices actually *fell*, not merely the inflation rate.
Dale's Battle With Economics No 94: Null Poins, Nicht, Nada 2008
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His kindness fell but hardly on the homeless, fell but hardly on the homes where the hearth was not very warm, and where the food had little fragrance; where the human faces had had no sunshine in them, but rather the leaden, blank-eyed gaze of unexpectant want.
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"About this time, too, I fell in love -- yes, _fell_ in love; for I just beheld the fair object, and I was a dead man, or a new man, or anything you will.
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume XXII Alexander Leighton 1837
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The whole amazing war happened while sheets of rain fell from the sky.
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In the moment, the name fell from my lips—Maisie.
oxygen world James Claffey 2012
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Not a drop of rain fell from the sky in Denver, but several weeks later the Republican convention was delayed due to rain and a hurricane.
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His expression fell away, leaving his face a blank as the reality bit in.
30 Days Of Night TIM LIBBON 2010
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The label fell on hard times by the early '90s amid Finland's economic downturn, but new management revived it in the past decade in part by hiring a range of young designers, who brought an updated aesthetic.
North Stars: Ilkka Suppanen and the New Wit in Finnish Design 2008
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But around the early '90s, the term fell out of use and came to be regarded as an anachronism if not a slur, much like the word Negro had done a generation earlier.
Running away from one's shadow Kylopod 2006
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But around the early '90s, the term fell out of use and came to be regarded as an anachronism if not a slur, much like the word Negro had done a generation earlier.
Archive 2006-06-01 Kylopod 2006
oroboros commented on the word fell
Contronymic in the sense: strong vs. weak (fell down).
January 27, 2007
sidheag commented on the word fell
–adjective
1. fierce; cruel; dreadful; savage.
2. destructive; deadly
November 18, 2008
bilby commented on the word fell
one fell swoop discussion here: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/at-one-fell-swoop.html#:~:text=%27At%20one%20fell%20swoop%27%20means%20%27suddenly%3B%20in%20a,origin%20of%20the%20phrase%20%27At%20one%20fell%20swoop%27%3F
December 4, 2020