| 释义 |
▪ I. falling, vbl. n.|ˈfɔːlɪŋ|
[f. fall v. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. fall.
1. In intransitive senses.
c1300Cursor M. 1854 (Cott.) Abute fiue monetz was þat it stud Wit-outen falling þat fers fludd. c1340Ibid. 411 heading (Fairf.) Þe fallinge of lucifer and his felawes. a1450Knt. de la Tour 11 She..in her fallyng cried helpe on our lady. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §13 From the tyme of the falling of theym [lambs] unto the feast of..Seynt John Baptyste. 1563Fulke Meteors (1640) 55 b, Sleet..beginneth to melt in the falling. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Ravallement..a falling in price, as the falling of the market. 1621Sanderson Serm. I. 214 Vzza had better have ventured the falling, than the fingering of the ark. 1771E. Griffith tr. Viaud's Shipwreck 109 The falling of night would otherwise have forced us to lay aside our labour. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 378 The falling of the drops of alcohol from the beak of the receiver. 1839Longfellow Hyperion i. vii. (1865) 38 The silent falling of snow.
2. In various specific applications.
a. the falling of the leaf: autumn.
b. Setting (of the sun).
c. Pathol. (see quot. 1884).
d. In the barometer, etc.
e. Mus. Cf. fall v. 17.
a.1503Hawes Examp. Virt. i. 5 In Septembre in fallynge of the lefe.
b.1555Eden Decades 1 Folowinge the fallinge of the sonne.
c.c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 303 For fallinge of þe maris þat is cleped dislocacioun of the maris. 1884Syd. Soc. Lex., Falling of the womb, a popular term for Prolapsus uteri.
d.1658Willsford Natures Secrets 154 The often rising and falling of the water [in a weather-glass] shews the out⁓ward Air very mutable..and the weather unconstant. 1688J. Smith Baroscope 65 Wet and Rainy Weather come presently upon the Mercury's Falling. 1814W. C. Wells Ess. Dew 9 The falling of the mercury in the barometer. 1860Adm. Fitz-Roy in Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 340 Indications of approaching changes..are shown..by its [the barometer's] falling or rising.
e.1609Douland Ornith. Microl. i. vi. 17 The falling of a Song. 1674Simpson in Campion Art of Descant 4 foot-n., If the Bass do rise more than a fourth, it must be called falling. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. ix. 186 A falling..at the Beginning of a Strain.
3. In transitive senses.
1580Lease in Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 237 At every falling he will leave for every acre fallen..twelve trees. 1699Luttrell Brief. Rel. (1857) IV. 483 A libell against the last parliament about their falling of guineas.
†4. A depression in the soil; a hollow, declivity, slope. Obs.
1563Golding Cæsar 61 b, High rockes and steepe fallings. 1580Sidney Arcadia iii. (1622) 250 Amphialus embushed his footemen in the falling of a hill. 1684R. H. Sch. Recreat. 83 Observe..the Risings, Fallings, and Advantages of the Places where you Bowl. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 21 Gardens..having no Risings, nor Fallings.
5. concr. Something which falls or has fallen.
a. A fragment (of a building); a ruin.
b. usually in pl. A dropping, a windfall. Also fig.
a.1382Wyclif Isa. lxi. 4 And olde fallingus thei shul rere, and thei shul restore cities forsaken. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 214 A great part of it..is..almost couered with the aforesayd fallings.
b.1608Yorksh. Trag. i. i, Apples hanging longer..than when they are ripe, make so many fallings. a1661Holyday Juvenal 180 Virro was capable of such caduca, such fallings..such windfalls. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 103 Tis the beggar's gain To glean the fallings of the loaded wain. 1847–78Halliwell, Fallings, dropped fruit. South.
6. a. With adverbs, expressing the action of the vbl. combinations under fall v. XI.
1440Promp. Parv., Fallynge downe, idem est quod Fallynge evylle. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Catarrhe..the Catarre or fallyng downe of humours. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 401 The falling from of his Friendes. 1611Bible 2 Thess. ii. 3 That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 200 They..observed the falling back of the French. 1712W. Rogers Voy. 315 Numbers..are lost by the falling in of the Earth. 1748Richardson Clarissa VII. v. 26 All her falling away, and her fainting fits. 1878L. P. Meredith Teeth 181 The falling away of the gums after extraction.
b. falling off: the action of the vb. fall off (fall v. 92); decadence, defection, diminution.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 47 Oh Hamlet, what a falling off was there. 1709Steele & Addison Tatler No. 111 ⁋4 A Falling off from those Schemes of Thinking. 1802T. Beddoes Hygëia vii, Should it be accompanied by falling off in flesh. 1834Brit. Husb. III. 60 A falling off of the milk is immediately noticed. 1837Whittier Barclay of Ury xv, Hard to feel the stranger's scoff, Hard the old friend's falling off. 1883E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 155 The grey showed no falling off from his previous form.
c. falling out: the action of the vb. fall out (fall v. 94), disagreement, quarrel; also † ending. Also falling in (with): the action of the vb. fall in fall v. 88, 91); opp. falling out.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 97 This fallyng out of king John with..Geoffrey Archebishop of Yorke. 1586W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 56 The falling out of verses together in one like sounde, is commonly called..Ryme. 1667Pepys Diary (1877) V. 194, I have heard of a falling out between my Lord Arlington..and W. Coventry. 1741Richardson Pamela III. 337 We had a sad Falling-out t'other Day. 1838Dickens Let. 16 Jan. (1965) I. 355 It almost seems as if we had had a mortal falling out. I hope we shall have a lasting falling in again, soon. 1847Tennyson Princess i. 251 Blessings on the falling out That all the more endears. 1919H. Crane Let. 13 Dec. (1965) 26 He has had a falling out with Amy Lowell, but a falling in with T. S. Eliot by way of compensation.
d. falling-short, the action of the vbl. phr. fall short of (fall v. 98): failure, insufficiency; inability to reach.
1857F. L. Olmsted Journey through Texas p. viii, Certain fallings-short from the standard of comfort and of character in older communities are inevitable. 1916A. Bennett These Twain xi. 221 His life seemed to be a life of half-measures, a continual falling-short. 1936Discovery Oct. 308/2 ‘My predecessors,’ he said, ‘have spoken of the shortcomings of the active world—to me they are but the fallings short of science.’
7. = felling vbl. n. 1. Also attrib., in falling axe, falling rope, falling saw, falling wedge. Now N. Amer., Austral., and N.Z.
1388Wyclif Ps. lxxiii. 6 Thei castiden down it with an ax, and a brood fallinge ax. 1580[see sense 3]. 1678New Castle (Delaware) Court Rec. (1904) 362, 3 falling axses. 1866J. Murray Descr. Province Southland iii. 29 For the falling, cross-cutting and splitting of his posts and rails, he will find it of advantage again to get a mate. 1875G. C. Davies Rambles School Field-Club viii. 67 A ‘falling rope’..that men attach to the top of a tree when they wish to cut it down. 1905Terms Forestry & Logging 37 Falling ax, an ax with a long helve and a long, narrow bit, designed especially for felling trees. Falling wedge, a wedge used to throw a tree in the desired direction, by driving it into the saw kerf. 1943R. E. Swanson Rhymes Lumberjack 12 So huge they were (both cedar and fir) that days were spent in their falling. 1946F. Davison Dusty xvii. 200 [He] came to know as much as a distant observer could of the business of falling, hauling and sawing pine logs. 1960Citizen (N. Vancouver) 10 Mar. 10/1 Swinging balance and cut of keen falling-saw Bite of falling-axe, tap of falling-wedge.
8. falling-in-love [fall v. 38 b, love n.1 7 f], the state of becoming enamoured.
1859Nat. Rev. Oct. 375 In the first place, a fighting period; and in the next place, a falling-in-love period. 1923J. S. Huxley Ess. Biologist vii. 271 The commonest example is ‘falling in love’, where the simple sex-instinct becomes intertwined with other instincts. 1963Auden Dyer's Hand iv. iv. 222 The traditional symbol in Western Literature for this kind of personal choice is the phenomenon of falling-in-love.
▪ II. falling, ppl. a.|ˈfɔːlɪŋ|
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. That falls, in various senses of the vb.
a1300Cursor M. 27581 (Cott.) Þe standand fall, þe falland rise. 1611Bible Isa. xxxiv. 4 All their hoste shall fall downe..as a falling figge from the figge tree. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 333 Presse not a falling man too farre. 1661J. Childrey Brit. Bacon. 170 The high Hils..break of the storms and falling Snow. 1695Congreve Love for L. Prol., One falling Adam, and one tempted Eve. a1711Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 86 Dark Prophecies predict our falling State. 1717Lady M. W. Montague Lett. (1763) II. xxix. 29 My Caftan..is a robe..with very long strait falling sleeves. 1762Falconer Shipwr. i. 490 The vessel parted on the falling tide. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 148 The weakness of the falling empire. 1833H. Martineau Vanderput & S. vi. 99 Hein's frowning brow and falling countenance. 1843Lytton Last Bar. i. iv. 28 The long throat and falling shoulders. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. iii. xxiv. §3 The speculative holders are unwilling to sell in a falling market. 1858in Merc. Marine Mag. V. 12 Kate Hooper..had strong..winds..with falling barometer. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 852/2 The Peabody gun..has a falling breech-block.
2. Prosody. Of a foot, rhythm, etc.: Decreasing in stress, having the ictus at the beginning. falling diphthong: see diphthong n. note. Also Comb., as falling-rising (tone).
1844Beck & Felton tr. Munk's Metres 8 A rhythm which begins with the arsis, and descends to the thesis, is called falling or sinking. 1924H. E. Palmer Gram. Spoken Eng. i. 13 Falling-Rising Nucleus-tone. 1964R. H. Robins Gen. Ling. iii. 111 Falling-rising tones.
3. Astrol. falling houses (see cadent a. 2).
1594Blundevil Exerc. iv. xxxvi. (ed. 7) 493 Those that go next before any of the foure principall Angles, are called falling houses.
4. falling-in: that slopes inwards from below.
1887Sci. Amer. 2 July 11/2 Yachts with the falling-in top⁓sides of a man of war.
5. Syntactical Combinations.
a. falling- † disease, † falling-evil (see evil 7 b), † falling-ill, falling-sickness (now rare) = epilepsy; also humorously for ‘a fall’, and fig.; falling-weather (dial. and U.S.) applied to weather in which rain, snow, or hail falls or may be expected.
The Eng. expressions for epilepsy are after L. morbus caducus; cf. Ger. fallende sucht.
a1225Ancr. R. 176 Fallinde vuel ich cleopie licomes sicnesse. 1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters C v, An ounce is good for them that haue the fallynge sekenesse. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 171 The gall of a Ferret is commended against the Falling disease. 1652Woman's Universe in Watson Collect. Scots Poems iii. (1711) 101 Hippocrates..Could never cure her Falling-ill, Which takes her when she pleases. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Falling Evil, a Disease which sometimes happens to Horses, being no other than the Falling-sickness. 1733Franklin Poor Richard's Almanac 6 Windy and falling weather. 1760Washington Diaries I. 112 The morning..promised much rain or other falling weather. 1780in Coll. New H. Hist. Soc. IX. 176 Cloudy but no falling weather. 1838C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron xxv. 172 It looks like falling weather, and my old drab will come in well to-day. 1843Sir T. Watson Lect. Physic (1871) I. 630 Its [epilepsy's] common designation is the falling sickness; or, more vaguely, fits. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) s.v. Weather, ‘We are going to have falling weather’, means that we are going to have rain, snow or hail. 1884–in dial. glossaries (Gloucester, Hereford, Warwick, Worcester). 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill v. 165 Will you look at that mess of clouds? I bet it's falling weather over in Surprise Valley.
b. in various other Combs., as falling-band = fall n.1 23 a; falling collar, a wide collar which lies flat; † falling-door = folding-door; † falling-gate = falling-sluice; † falling-hinge, one by which a door, etc. rises vertically when opened; falling leaf, an aerobatic manœuvre in which an aeroplane is stalled and sideslipped while losing height; also attrib. and transf.; falling-mould, Arch. (see quot.); falling-sluice (see quot.).
1598*Falling-band [see fall n.1 23 a]. 1637Earl of Cork Diary in Sir R. Boyle Diary Ser. i. (1886) V. 39 Sent me this daie..6 laced ffalling bands and vi pair of cuffes sutable.
1862Revised Regs. Army U.S. 478 A sack coat..made loose, without sleeve or body lining, *falling collar, inside pocket on the left side. 1866Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. I. vi. 62 Two boys, in the most youthful kind of jackets and trousers, and falling collars.
1753Hanway Trav. I. ii. xxxiv. 231 The Divan, or open hall, is in the centre, and shuts in with *falling-doors.
1801Hull Navig. Act 2559 Two clear openings..in which shall be placed *falling gates.
1783Trans. Soc. Arts I. 320 A *falling hinge.
1918H. Barber Aerobatics 51 (caption) *Falling Leaf. 1935H. G. Wells Things to Come ix. 82 Aeroplane looping the loop—then the falling leaf trick. 1957Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VI. 314 When performed at the lower altitudes the technique is often the individual ‘falling-leaf’, but at higher altitudes the birds rush downwards together and the formation is not broken. 1970H. Krier Mod. Aerobatics & Precision Flying ii. 56 The falling leaf is a series of checked spins, in which the airplane is allowed to fall off first to the right and then to the left, or vice versa.
1876Gwilt Archit. Gloss., *Falling Moulds, the two moulds applied to the vertical sides of the railpiece, one to the convex, the other to the concave side, in order to form the back and under surface of the rail and finish the squaring.
1846Buchanan Technol. Dict., *Falling-sluice, a..flood-gate, in connection with mill-dams..self-acting or contrived to fall down of itself in the event of a flood. |