fallingn.1
/ˈfɔːlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈfɔlɪŋ/, /ˈfɑlɪŋ/ I. The action of fall v.
1.
a. The action or an act of falling physically (in various senses of fall v. I., II., and III.); dropping from a height; descent; toppling; collapse.Recorded earliest in the Old English compound feaxfeallung, lit. ‘hair-falling’ (compare fax n.1), translating alopicia, post-classical Latin form of classical Latin alōpecia alopecia n.In quot. 1533-4: the birth of an animal's young; cf. fall v. 5a, fall n.2 15.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > [noun]
fallingOE
downfallingc1330
drysnynga1400
cadence1609
decadence1812
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > [noun] > falling away from duty
fallingOE
departing1526
defection1532
prevarication1541
recreancy1602
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > [noun]
birdeOE
birtha1200
i-borenessc1225
bearingc1275
nativityc1375
progressionc1385
gettingc1480
natality1483
naissance1490
falling1533–4
nascence1570
natitial1612
progermination1648
happy event1737
engendure1821
arrival1830
birthhood1867
interesting event1899
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [noun] > the falling of snow
snowingc1330
snewingc1400
falling1563
fall1749
OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 52 Alopicia, feaxfeallung.
a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) l. 271 (MED) Þe ston..is..debrused þere ffor þe fallyng so stronge.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 1854 Abute fiue monetz was þat it stud, Wit-outen falling, þat fers fludd.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 411 (heading) Þe fallinge of..lucifer and his felawes.
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 11 She..in her fallyng cried helpe on oure lady.
1533–4 Act 25 Henry VIII c. 13 §13 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 453 From the tyme of the fallyng of theym [sc. lambs] unto the feast of..Seynt John Baptyste.
1563 W. Fulke Goodle Gallerye Causes Meteors iv. f. 55v Sleet..beginneth to melte in the falling.
1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. 466 Vzza had better haue ventured the falling, than the fingering of the Arke.
1740 Ess. & Observ. (Dublin Soc.) 99 The fragrant Smell of the Fruit itself, and its falling in calm Weather, are certain Indications.
1807 T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 3) II. 378 The falling of the drops of alcohol from the beak of the receiver.
1839 H. W. Longfellow Hyperion I. i. vii. 63 The silent falling of snow.
1953 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 11 July 83/1 He had to hold on to something to prevent his falling.
1995 J. Gedmin Germans iv. 78 Some people attribute a lot of this anti-foreigner feeling to the falling of the Wall.
2010 Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) (Nexis) 25 Nov. Looking for something to do in the quiet season between the falling of the autumn leaves and the falling of the first significant snow?
b. Medicine. Downward displacement of an organ, esp. the uterus or rectum; an instance of this; = prolapse n.2 2. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > reproductive organ disorders > [noun] > of female > disorders of womb
fallinga1400
retroversion1771
physometra1772
hysteritis1781
anteversion1790
metritis1807
anteflexion1833
uteritisa1836
antroversion1840
metroperitonitis1845
metrophlebitis1845
hydatidiform mole1859
retroflexion1860
parametritis1869
perimetritis1869
cervicitis1889
mesometritis1890
adenomyoma1913
breakthrough bleeding1950
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 303 For fallinge of þe maris, þat is clepid dislocacioun [L. dislocationem] of the maris.
1526 Grete Herball xxix. sig. B.vi/1 And it is to wyte yt agaynst the fallynge of the matrice stynkyn thynges ought to be vsed beneth.
1569 R. Androse tr. ‘Alessio’ 4th Bk. Secretes iii. 33 Against the falling of the Vuola, and swelling of the Pallate.
1680 Country-mans Physician xi. 53 For the Falling of the Womb, use contrary Remedies to cause it to remount to its place, to wit sweet scents at nose, & stinking ones below for the Womb.
1791 A. G. Sinclair Artis Medicinæ Vera Explanatio 164 It is evident that a falling of the anus may ensue from relaxation, a propulsive cause, dysentery, flux, diarrhæa, &c.
1856 A. K. Gardner Causes & Curative Treatm. Sterility 64 This complaint is very generally but a symptom of uterine congestion, hypertrophy of the os uteri, &c., but occasionally it is simply a falling of the womb.
1903 J. P. Tuttle Treat. Dis. Anus, Rectum, & Pelvic Colon xvii. 667 Prolapsus has been applied for centuries to all degrees of falling of the rectum.
1932 M. Fishbein Fads & Quackery in Healing xx. 299 When one is..told that, properly, applied, this apparatus will cure pneumonia, neuritis, lumbago, eczema, dysmenorrhea, falling of the uterus, and falling of the palate, who is to tell one whether or not the machine will actually do all that is claimed for it?
2013 T. Cabrita & D. Strasser in K. M. Means & P. M. Kortebein Geriatrics xxxix. 98/1 Enterocele (falling of the bowels during evacuation).
c. The setting of the sun, the stars, etc.; = fall n.2 13a. Now chiefly somewhat archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > evening > [noun] > sunset
sunsetOE
settle-gangc1000
evensongc1330
sun going downa1382
setc1386
decline14..
sun restc1405
sun gate down1440
sunsetting1440
sun sitting?a1475
falling1555
sunsetting1575
downsetting1582
sunfall1582
declining1588
sun go down1595
tramontation1599
vail1609
daylight gate1613
sundown1620
set of day1623
dayset1633
day shutting1673
sky setting1683
sun-under1865
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. i. f. 1v Folowinge the fallinge of the sonne [L. occidentem solem].
1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. sig. D5 v Thy Sunne not still could the north, But by his falling reaued thee of day.
1621 P. Heylyn Microcosmus 327 A faire sensible Horizon..profitable to the observation of the Hiliacal Acronicall Matutine and Vespertine rising and falling of every star.
1700 C. P. Sheepherd's New Kalender 25 If a storm Rise with the Sun, at the Falling of the Sun it will begin to Decline.
a1823 A. Radcliffe St. Alban's Abbey v. xvi, in Gaston de Blondeville (1826) III. 233 Till near the falling of the sun, It was not known the fight was done.
1895 Albert Lea (Minnesota) Enterprise 4 Apr. They will be here by the falling of the sun.
1989 M. Wiggins John Dollar (1990) i. 11 She dreamed of warmth, the rising or the falling of bright stars.
2014 D. Olopade Bright Continent viii. 157 Residents clustered around any live wall socket available, charging their fancy devices, cursing the falling of the sun.
d. The sinking down or contraction of the fluid in a barometer or thermometer (said also of the instrument itself); = fall n.2 14b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > study or science of weather > meteorological instruments > [noun] > barometer > height of mercury in > (proportional) rise and fall > fall
falling1658
fall1664
1658 T. Willsford Natures Secrets 154 The often rising and falling of the water [in a weather-glass] shews the outward Air very mutable..and the weather unconstant.
1688 J. Smith Compl. Disc. Baroscope 65 Wet and Rainy Weather come presently upon the Mercury's Falling.
1747 Philos. Trans. Abridged 1732–44 (Royal Soc.) 8 615 After a new falling of the Barometer, there fell above an Inch of Rain.
?1790 J. Imison School of Arts (ed. 2) 132 The falling of the mercury foreshews thunder.
1814 W. C. Wells Ess. Dew 9 The falling of the mercury in the barometer.
1860 Adm. Fitz-Roy in Mercantile Marine Mag. 7 340 Indications of approaching changes..are shown..by its [sc. the barometer's] falling or rising.
1912 Manch. Guardian 16 Apr. 9/7 By the falling of the thermometer we get a very good idea if ice is about.
2003 Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.) 30 July The rising and falling of the barometer helps to predict what kind of weather the near future may bring.
2.
a. In various figurative and abstract uses; esp. descent from high status, power, virtue, etc. Cf. fall v. I.**, II.**, III.**.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Prov. xvii. 5 Who gladeþ in þe fallyng [L. ruina] of an oþer shal not ben vnpunshid.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. l. 2568 Ther pitous eende men may ther reede & see, How Fortune ther fatis dede entrete. Wherfore..Off ther fallyng I purpose nat to spare Compendiousli the causes to declare.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xvii. 25 The medis of rightwismen, the pynes of dampnabil men, the fallyngis of amendabil men.
1559 Passage Quene Elyzabeth (new ed.) sig. B.iiiiv The Queenes maiestie..helde vice vnder foote. For if vice once gotte vp the head, it would put the seate of gouernement in peryll of falling.
a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. vii. §4. 270 Can wee thinke, that that prouidence..should bee so supinely incurious, as to slight and neglect the falling of Kingdomes?
1676 A. Carmichael Believers Mortification (1677) 177 The godly man often rises by his falling; he grows more humble.
1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Rom. xi. 21 The best Preservative from falling is Humility, and holy Fear.
1771 E. Griffith tr. ‘P. Viaud’ Shipwreck 109 The falling of night would otherwise have forced us to lay aside our labour.
1845 Evangelical Repository (Philadelphia) May 565 The falling of the people of God from a state of grace, or justification is possible.
1870 Mercersburg Rev. Oct. 539 Why this incessant rising and falling of systems, like the rising and falling of empires and kingdoms?
1917 Punch 23 May 340/2 A beam of pleasure, succeeded by a falling of the countenance.
1989 C. Boylan Concerning Virgins (1990) 2 The sisters had a redemptive mission and she had a suspicion that they caught their girls in the act of falling.
2010 N. E. Jaffary et al. Mexican Hist. i. 9 With the falling of central governments that had incorporated other city-states, the ethnic groups did not disappear.
b. Reduction in numerical value, rate, or amount; spec. reduction in price or monetary value; depreciation, devaluation; an instance of this. Cf. falling off n. 2.In quot. 1699: the action of devaluing a currency.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > fluctuation in price > [noun] > decline in prices
fall1551
falling1571
sag1891
rolling back1942
turnback1977
society > trade and finance > money > value of money > [noun] > fall or reduction in value
delayinga1500
embezzlement1548
embasing1551
fall1551
debasement1602
disvaluation1617
adulterateness1655
embasement1677
falling1699
depreciating1767
depreciation1767
debasing1891
devaluation1914
devalorization1928
slippage1972
1571 Dict. French & Eng. sig. Bb.iij/1 Rauellement.., a falling in price, as the falling of the market.
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo iii. ix. 412 Inequalitie crept in by the rising and falling of the price of Exchange.
1699 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 483 A libell against the last parliament about their falling of guineas.
1711 Plunder & Bribery further Discover'd 26 The Rising and Falling of the Rates of such Goods may happen.
1857 Chicago Mag. 15 June 363/1 A crisis—a crash—a suspension—universal bankruptcy—falling of prices.
1876 J. Van Duyn & E. C. Seguin tr. E. L. Wagner Man. Gen. Pathol. iv. 530 Rapid falling of the body-heat from 38° to 30° C. was observed.
1926 G. T. Griffith Population Probl. Age of Malthus ix. 200 There was a check in the falling of the death rate.
1967 Daily Republican-Reg. (Mt. Carmel, Illinois) 30 Aug. 1/4 Farm economists..are concerned about the possible surplus and falling of prices this fall.
2006 W. L. Koukkari & R. B. Sothern Introducing Biol. Rhythms xii. 550 In spite of the short-term rising and falling of blood pressure values in response to this young man's activities, [etc.].
c. Decrease in musical pitch or in the pitch of the voice; an instance of this. Cf. fall n.2 19b.In early use also: †a musical cadence (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > [noun] > low pitch > decrease of pitch
falling1574
descent1604
depressiona1831
1574 F. Kinwelmersh tr. A. Le Roy Briefe Instr. Musicke Lute f. 37v The other partes, commyng together in the naturall fallyng of the third Tune.
1609 J. Dowland tr. A. Ornithoparchus Micrologus i. vi. 17 The falling of a Song.
1655 C. Simpson Campion's Art composing Musick in Parts in J. Playford Introd. Skill Musick 3 If the Base doe rise more than a fourth it must be called falling.
1706 A. Bedford Temple Musick ix. 186 A falling..at the Beginning of a Strain.
1795 L. Murray Eng. Gram. 154 As emphasis is the raising, cadence is the falling of the voice.
1854 Heiress of Somerton II. ii. 35 Very rich, holy, and sweet were its cadenced risings and fallings!
1879 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 16/1 The rising and falling of the melody should correspond as far as possible to the rising and falling of the voice in the correct and intelligent reading of the text.
1909 Homiletic Rev. Jan. 35/1 That softness of tone and falling of inflection we see not only in the human mother, but even among inferior animal mothers.
1999 B. R. Smith Acoustic World Early Mod. Eng. vii. 191 Through a series of risings and fallings, the tune modulates from lamentation..to defiance.
2010 Renaissance Q. 63 700 A crucial component in oral performance [is] intonation—the rising and falling of the voice.
3. The action or an act of cutting down a tree or trees; = felling n. 1c. Since the 19th cent. chiefly North American, Australian, and New Zealand.Earliest in falling axe at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > felling trees
fallinga1425
felling1447
fell1531
fall1535
woodfall1588
slaughter1657
logging1706
tree-felling1759
fallage1788
slashing1822
fellage1839
wood-cutting1872
throw1879
bush-falling1882
drive1899
bushwhacking1906
clear-cutting1922
coupe1922
landnam1950
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Psalms lxxiii. 6 Thei castiden doun it with an ax, and a brood fallinge ax [L. in securi et ascia].
1542 T. Elyot Bibliotheca Deiectus arborum, fallynge of trees.
1580 Lease in C. R. L. Fletcher Collectanea (1885) I. 237 (modernized text) At every falling he will leave for every acre fallen..twelve..trees.
1752 Laws New-Castle, Kent & Sussex, upon Delaware 339 If any Person..shall commit any Nusance therein, by falling of Trees,..or any other Way,..such Person..shall be fined in the Sum of Five Pounds.
1774 App. to Case H. T. Gott 3 She has been particularly inquisitive..about the Falling of the Timber, and Cutting of the Woods.
1866 J. 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.
1885 Illustr. Austral. News (Melbourne) 25 Nov. 202/2 In ‘falling’..the tree can go only one of two ways.
1943 R. E. Swanson Rhymes Lumberjack 12 So huge they were (both cedar and fir) that days were spent in their falling.
1964 Brazil (Indiana) Daily Times 19 Feb. 1/1 Falling of timber, processing it into lumber at the mills in this area is the oldest of the local industries.
2012 M. B. Lima-Toivanen in J.-A. Lamberg et al. Evol. Global Paper Industry x. 247 The government had passed a law intended to combat the indiscriminate falling of trees.
II. Something that falls or results from falling.† 5. A depression in the ground or soil; a hollow; a slope, a declivity. Obsolete.
4. Something which falls or has fallen.† a. A fallen fragment of a building; a ruin. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > breaking or cracking > [noun] > demolition > a ruin or wreck
fallinga1382
wracka1586
wrakea1627
land-wracka1657
wreck1814
rack-heap1850
wreckage1874
crack-up1926
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. lxi. 4 And olde fallingus [L. ruinas] thei shul rere, and thei shul restore cites forsaken.
1588 T. Hickock tr. C. Federici Voy. & Trauaile f. 2v A great parte of it..is..almost couered with the aforesaid fallings.
b. An item, esp. an apple or other fruit, that has fallen from where it grows or has been placed; a windfall. Usually in plural. Also figurative. Now rare (chiefly English regional in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > valued plants and weeds > edible product or fruit > [noun] > dropped or fallen fruit
falling1584
windfalla1592
the mind > possession > acquisition > [noun] > that which is obtained or acquired > an acquisition or gain > casual or accidental
windfall1542
falling1584
by-acquist1661
daebak2003
1584 T. Lodge Alarum against Vsurers f. 1v Among a tree of fruite there bee some withered fallings.
1608 Yorkshire Trag. sig. A2 Apples hanging longer..then when they are ripe, makes so many fallings.
a1661 B. Holyday tr. Juvenal Satyres (1673) 180 Virro was capable of such caduca, such fallings..such windfalls.
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 79 Tis the beggars gain To glean the fallings of the loaded wain.
1754 J. Barrow Suppl. New & Universal Dict. at Molosses The people in New England also feed their hogs with the fallings of their orchards of these apples.
1778 R. Cumberland Battle of Hastings Prol. sig. A2 To pick perhaps..A few cast fallings from the tree of fame.
1846 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Fallings, dropped fruit. South.
1891 C. Wordsworth Rutland Words 13 Fallings, windfall apples. ‘There's a nice mess o' fallings in your orchard.’
1895 Outing Aug. 406/2 The autumn fallings and the winter blowings had covered up matters so that it was not always easy to locate our cottages.
a1900 J. P. Kirk in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 291/1 [S. Nottinghamshire] 'E offered me some apples, but they were noat but fallins.
1912 L. H. Yates Gardener & Cook (1913) 203 We had a good many fallings to make use of, as commonly happens in an old orchard.
1998 S. Wales Evening Post (Nexis) 26 Mar. 26 You'd get as many fallings—fallen apples—as you could carry.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hollow or depression > [noun]
pathOE
slackc1400
navela1425
trough1513
nook1555
falling1565
swale1584
hella1653
depression1665
holl1701
sag1727
dip1783
recession1799
holler1845
sike1859
sitch1888
sulcus1901
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > slope > [noun] > downward
downhielda1400
descencec1425
descent1485
descending1490
downfall1542
pitch1542
downhill1548
declinea1552
falling1565
stoop1611
declivitya1613
devergence1727
downslope1855
1565 A. Golding tr. Caesar Martiall Exploytes in Gallia ii. f. 61v High rockes and steepe fallings [L. deiectusque].
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. vii. sig. Mm2v Amphialus..embushed his footmen in the falling of a hill.
1651 tr. J. A. Comenius Nat. Philos. Reformed vi. 93 Whence those risings and fallings in the surface of the earth (that is mountains and valleys) were made.
1684 R. Howlett School Recreat. 83 Observe..the Risings, Fallings, and Advantages of the Places where you Bowl.
1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 21 Gardens..having no Risings, nor Fallings.
1795 A. Young in R. Warner Coll. Hist. Hampshire I. ii. 24 The swellings and fallings of the country about Vicar's hill..form a fine coup d'ail.
1845 Cornwall Royal Gaz. 21 Mar. That undulating line which, presenting a succession of short risings and fallings, admits..of much steeper gradients..than would be admissible if the planes were long.
1893 Temple Bar Dec. 483 The delicately cut risings and fallings of the circle of mountains that close in the view from the Temple.
Phrases
P1.
falling of the leaf n. now somewhat rare (the shedding of leaves in) autumn; = (the) fall of the leaf at fall n.2 Phrases 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > autumn
harvest902
harvest-tidec1175
harvest time1362
autumn?c1400
falling of the leaf?1504
fall1550
leaf fall1616
go-harvest1735
back-end1820
fall time1833
?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. aa.iii In Septembre in fallynge of the lefe.
1532 (a1475) Assembly of Ladies l. 1 in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 380 (MED) In Septembre, at the falling of the leef.
1682 G. Hartman Digby's Choice Coll. Rare Secrets 262 Twice a Year, chiefly in the Spring, and at the Falling of the Leaf.
1788 S. Lusignan Series Lett. II. App. 152 The autumn, or the falling of the leaf, commences the tenth of September.
1875 R. S. Chadwick Working & Singing 123/2 Before the falling of the leaf She in the grave was sleeping.
1914 K. A. Esdaile Lux Juventutis 33 Such joys as these Long-known—the spring, the falling of the leaf, The gladness of the summer and the trees.
1982 Cumberland (Maryland) Times 13 Oct. 36/5 You can capture the grandeur of this special time in a celebration with family and friends. The ‘falling of the leaf’ is a good excuse for a party.
P2.
falling in love n. the action or fact of falling in love (see love n.1 Phrases 2a); the process or fact of becoming enamoured (with someone or something).
ΚΠ
1588 M. Kyffin tr. Terence Andria i. i. B.iv Simo discourseth.., first of the honest life of his sonne: And afterward of his falling in loue. [No corresponding sentence in the Latin opriginal.]
1697 J. Vanbrugh Provok'd Wife ii. 17 Prithee let me tell you how I avoid falling in love; that which serves me for Prevention, may chance to serve you for a Cure.
1799 C. Ludger tr. A. von Kotzebue Peevish Man ii. viii. 48 Three hundred years ago there was no reading, and no falling in love neither.
1859 Nat. Rev. Oct. 375 In the first place, a fighting period; and in the next place, a falling-in-love period.
1897 M. H. Hervey David Dimsdale xvii. 249 Tell me, David, about this falling in love. Have you ever fallen in love?
1923 J. S. Huxley Ess. Biologist vii. 271 The commonest example is ‘falling in love’, where the simple sex-instinct becomes intertwined with other instincts.
1985 I. Murdoch Good Apprentice iii. 421 Her falling in love with him..was a proof of the abundant unpredictable richness of life.
2004 P. J. Conradi Going Buddhist 99 Devotion to the Guru means having a singular unmediated connexion with the Teacher which can resemble falling-in-love.
2015 J. H. Miller Communities in Fiction ii. 76 As is characteristic of Trollope's novels, the falling in love in Grace's case takes place against the opposition of family and friends.
Compounds
C1.
a. With following adverb or preposition, forming nouns of action corresponding to phrasal verbs at fall v. Phrasal verbs 1, Phrasal verbs 2. See also falling down n., falling in n., falling off n., falling out n.† falling from n. [compare to fall from —— 2a at fall v. Phrasal verbs 2] Obsolete rare
falling away n.
ΚΠ
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 180 (MED) Fallyng awei of heer is clepid allopucia.
1575 T. Cartwright Second Replie agaynst Dr. Whitgiftes Second Answer p. ccxci Shewinge the trewe cawse off the falling awaie off this libertie from the churche.
1589 J. Batt Portraiture Hypocrisie 72 There is no filthy concupiscence of adultery,..no falling away from the liuing God for such vanities.
1611 Bible (King James) 2 Thess. ii. 3 That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. View more context for this quotation
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) iii. i. 335 The water may haue a descent or falling away into some Brooke, Riuer, or other Dike.
1731 J. Hutchinson New Acct. Confusion of Tongues 221 Notwithstanding all the Fallings away, God had still Confessors there.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. v. 26 All her falling away, and her fainting fits.
1878 L. P. Meredith Teeth (ed. 2) 181 The falling away of the gums after extraction.
1885 P. Lowell Chosön ix. 90 In places where a steep descent offers an opportunity, the falling away of the ground is taken advantage of.
1904 Financial Times 16 July 7/5 A distinct falling away in investment business has been noticeable.
1928 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 Dec. 971/2 This diminution of pressure,..is followed immediately by a falling away of the brain from the surface.
2013 Times (Nexis) 16 Sept. (Sport section) 54 Any falling away from the highest moral standards presents the world with an issue.
falling back n.
ΚΠ
1545 G. Joye Expos. Daniel (xi.) f. 189 Their fallinge bak from the lawe of God.
1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. i. xvii. 207 They..observed the falling back of the French.
1657 M. Lawrence Use & Pract. Faith 215 What then is the difference between the falling back of an Hypocrite and a true Believer?
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 107 An apt falling-back of the Back, and convenient gathering of the Wings, and Brest of the Chimney.
a1830 J. Rennell Investig. Currents Atlantic Ocean (1832) ii. 110 By this falling back of the coast..a considerable bay is formed.
1891 M. Oliphant Janet I. xi. 153 Janet had various fallings back from this confidence.
1902 Internat. Jrnl. Surg. July 205/1 Deeper cyanosis is an indication for freeing the air passages if they are obstructed by mucus or by the falling back of the tongue.
1991 B. Moon Guide to National Curriculum (ed. 3) v. 41 There are times of great progress, followed by a period of consolidation, or even some falling back.
2013 M. Grebowicz & H. Merrick Beyond Cyborg ii. 27 Such questions suggest a falling back into the ‘two houses’ mentality critiqued by Latour.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. iii. 403 The falling from of his Friendes. View more context for this quotation
falling over n.
ΚΠ
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. ii. 42 He provided a Table.., and palisadoed it round.., to prevent my falling over.
1791 J. Bentham Panopticon i. xiii. 216 These fences should in height be of more than half that of a man,..to prevent his falling over unawares.
1841 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 11 337 The road was the most precipitous..I had ever seen..and entailed the most curious scene of disasters and fallings over.
1899 G. Massee Text-bk. Plant Dis. 54 The falling over and dying of the plantlets.
1956 Times 24 Dec. 10/2 There is..any amount of the falling-over and bonkings on the head that are the acme of humour for any child.
2010 Viz Apr. Gloss. 43/1 The practice of which [martial art] involves much flailing of limbs and falling over.
b. More generally with following adjective or adverb, forming nouns of action corresponding to uses of fall v. (cf. sense 45a(b)), as falling asleep, falling short, falling sick, etc.
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c1525 Henry VIII Let. in Ld. Herbert Life Henry VIII (1649) (modernized text) 174 You being also so suddenly (with the falling sick of your servants) afraid, and troubled.
1635 W. Guild in Funerals P. Forbes 83 It is called in Scripture, onelie a falling asleep, a giving vp the Ghost, a gathering to our fathers, [etc.].
1642 J. Goodwin Imputatio Fidei ii. v. 156 Israels miscarriage and falling short in this kind.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Febricitation,..a falling sick of an Ague or Feaver.
1741 J. Wilford Memorials & Characters 52 As to the Manner of her Death..it was so quiet that it might even in that Sense be most properly term'd a falling asleep.
1857 F. L. Olmsted Journey through Texas p. viii Certain fallings-short from the standard of comfort and of character in older communities are inevitable.
1936 Discovery 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.’
1961 I. Khan Jumbie Bird iv. 52 Of sins as punishable as falling asleep, there was gazing into space, day-dreaming, and finally yawning, the most sinful of all.
2003 A. W. Astell Joan of Arc & Sacrificial Authorship v. 169 Woolf speaks of the falling silent of a different sort of voice, the voice of her inspiration as a writer.
2014 Times of India (Nexis) 3 June I realized the reason for my falling ill was failing to have enough water.
C2. attributive in sense 3, as falling axe, falling rope, falling saw, falling wedge.
ΚΠ
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Psalms lxxiii. 6 Thei castiden doun it with an ax, and a brood fallinge ax.
1678 in Rec. Court of New Castle on Delaware (1904) 362 3 falling axses.
1731 F. Hall Importance Brit. Plantations Amer. 107 Here are several Manufactures begun..and they have long been famous for making the best Falling-Axes in the World.
1875 G. 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.
1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 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.
1960 Citizen (N. Vancouver) 10 Mar. 10/1 Swinging balance and cut of keen falling-saw Bite of falling-axe, tap of falling-wedge.
2007 D. F. Blair in J. E. Kuser Urban & Community Forestry in Northeast (ed. 2) xxi. 389 Plastic falling wedges and a logger's falling axe are..essential tools in my removal kit.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
fallingadj.n.2
/ˈfɔːlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈfɔlɪŋ/, /ˈfɑlɪŋ/ 1. That falls (in various senses of the verb). Also occasionally as n.: those who fall.In quot. eOE translating classical Latin cāsuālis casual adj., here in sense ‘(as if) by chance’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > [adjective]
fallingeOE
tumblingc1374
falling-downc1384
cadukec1420
rueing1557
downfalling1573
cadenta1616
deciduous1656
decident1674
eOE Bede Glosses (Tiber. C.ii) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1917) 136 292 [Insidiator inimicus,] casualibus laquiis [praeparatis, Germani pedem lapsus occasione contriuit] : ðæm fallendum girenum.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 246 Martinus þa unforht ongean þæt feallende treow worhte rodetacn.
OE tr. Medicina de Quadrupedibus (Vitell.) v. 250 Wiþ feallendum feaxe haran wambe seoð oþþe bræd on pannan on godum ele, smyre þæt feax & þæt heafod.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 206 Þochte ure lauerd..ich schal do..þe turn of edmodnesse. þet is þe fallinde turn. & feol from þe heouene to eorðe.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Job xiv. 18 A fallinge hil floweþ doun, & a ston is born ouer fro his place.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. cxii. 1261 Þe grece of a bere helpeþ aȝeins fallyng heer.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 27581 Þe standand fall, þe falland rise.
a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) l. 1145 The feriage be take away fro flodis, The briggis on the ryverys to breke, And passagis with falling tymbour steke.
?1529 T. Paynell tr. Agapetos Preceptes sig. a.vi Shortely after, with the fallyng water, they wyll leue hym and enriche some other.
1561 B. Googe tr. ‘M. Palingenius’ Zodiake of Life (new ed.) vi. sig. S.viii The falling house doth light And doth vnlode him of his braines.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. ii. 334 Presse not a falling man too farre. View more context for this quotation
1660 J. Childrey Britannia Baconica 170 The high Hils..break of the storms and falling Snow.
1695 W. Congreve Love for Love Prol. sig. a2v One falling Adam, and one tempted Eve.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 326 My Caftan..is a robe..with very long strait falling sleeves.
1769 W. Falconer Shipwreck (ed. 3) i. 28 The vessel parted on the falling tide.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. 148 The weakness of the falling empire.
1833 H. Martineau Messrs. Vanderput & Snoek vi. 99 Hein's frowning brow and falling countenance.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. iii. xxiv. §3 The speculative holders are unwilling to sell in a falling market.
1858 in Mercantile Marine Mag. 5 12 Kate Hooper..had strong..winds..with falling barometer.
1902 Chambers's Jrnl. July 441/2 A bird does not gather speed when sailing in the air, as a falling stone would.
1933 G. Sinclair Cannibal Quest iii. 66 A bonk on the head from a falling cocoanut.
1966 B. Took & M. Feldman Best of ‘Round The Horne’ (2000) 87/1 (stage direct.) F/X: Swanee whistle and thud of falling bodies.
2001 Birds Summer 42/1 They put all their colour into their song: a lovely falling yodel: lulla-lulla-lu.
2012 Independent on Sunday 15 Jan. (New Review) 22/3 The falling cost of data storage means that there is no reason not to collect it.
2. Prosody. Of a foot, rhythm, etc.: having the stress at the beginning, decreasing in stress.falling diphthong: see diphthong n. a.
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1844 C. Beck & C. C. Felton tr. E. Munk Metres Greeks & Romans 8 A rhythm which begins with the arsis, and descends to the thesis, is called falling or sinking [Ger. fallender oder sinkender].
1893 Mod. Lang. Notes 8 418 Verses with rising rhythm are the rule in France and Italy, those of a falling rhythm are found mainly in Spain and Portugal.
1948 PMLA 63 306 There is no real distinction between ‘rising’ and ‘falling’ metre.
1963 P. Foote in G. Johnston tr. Saga of Gisli (1999) 61 Its rhythmic unit is developed from the Germanic half line,..having the third foot always of the falling or trochaic type.
2000 G. Russom in G. Clark & D. Timmons J. R. R. Tolkien & his Lit. Resonances iv. 64 In both trimeters and tetrameters, the first syllable of the verse is usually stressed, establishing a falling rhythm for Bombadil's verse generally.
Compounds
C1. Forming names for the disease epilepsy (in some cases also used figuratively, and humorously for sexual promiscuity in women; cf. fall v. 14). [The English expressions for epilepsy are after post-classical Latin morbus caducus (5th cent.; frequently from 12th cent. in British sources); compare Middle French maladie caducque (c1447; also mal caducque, French mal caduc), German fallende Sucht (12th cent. in Old High German).] † falling-ill n. Obsolete
falling disease n. now rare
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > fit or stroke > epilepsy
brothfallc1175
foul evila1398
the falling evila1400
falling gouta1400
land-evilc1440
falling sickness1485
epilency1495
falling-ill1561
comitial fit1562
St John's disease1574
epilepsy1578
falling disease1580
St John's evil1605
epilepse1804
sacred malady-
1580 T. Newton Approoued Med. f. 89v This kinde of shell burned, and taken for a fume, reuiueth women that haue the passion called the mother: and them that haue the falling disease.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 219 The gall of a Ferret is commended against the falling disease.
1876 Arch. Ophthalmol. & Otol. 5 105 It was further ascertained that the patient's brother..was dull-witted, and that a brother of the mother had had the ‘falling disease’ (epilepsy), but died at 28 with consumption.
2002 R. Reis in W. Ernst Plural Med., Trad. & Modernity vi. 99 As long as the seizures have not led to irreversible physical or cognitive damage, both patients and healers hope and search for the removal of the falling disease.
2006 W. Romano Big Boss Man iii. 92 As far back in recorded history as ancient Mesopotamia, epilepsy was referred to as ‘the falling disease’ brought on by evil spirits.
falling evil n. [compare evil n.1 7a] now historical
ΚΠ
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 134 Fallinde uuel iclepie licomes secnesse.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. x. 355 Þe epilentik, þat is, him þat hath þe fallinge euel.
c1450 Practica Phisicalia John of Burgundy in H. Schöffler Mittelengl. Medizinlit. (1919) 229 (MED) For þe fallyng euyll, a precyus medcyn.
1542 N. Udall in tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes ii. f. 204 For slepe is an ymage and representacion of death, and the acte of venereous copulacion a plaine spiece of the fallyng eiuil.
1652 W. Lilly Annus Tenebrosus 44 Never were so many men so suddenly destroyed by the falling Evill and Apoplecticall Diseases as in that year wherein there happened a great Eclips in Aries.
1705 E. Ward Fortune's Bounty 10 In numbers flock'd Phisicians too, Who knew not how to tame a Shrew, or cure for th' ease of their own Lives, the Falling Evil in their Wives.
1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. 758 [Epilepsy] received from our ancestors the apt symptomatic name of the ‘falling-evil’ or ‘falling-sickness’.
1971 Proc. Amer. Philol. Soc. 115 304/2 There were a number of incantations for the falling evil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > fit or stroke > epilepsy
brothfallc1175
foul evila1398
the falling evila1400
falling gouta1400
land-evilc1440
falling sickness1485
epilency1495
falling-ill1561
comitial fit1562
St John's disease1574
epilepsy1578
falling disease1580
St John's evil1605
epilepse1804
sacred malady-
1561 T. Blundeville tr. Plutarch Three Morall Treat. sig. C.ii If those that haue the fallyng yll At any tyme take colde I say, They can not stand but stagger styll.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xiii. 218 And from the Falling-ill, by Fiue-leafe doth restore, And Melancholy cures by soueraigne Hellebore.
1652 Woman's Universe in J. Watson Choice Coll. Scots Poems (1711) iii. 101 Hippocrates..Could never cure her Falling-ill, Which takes her when she pleases.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Falling-ill, fits, epilepsy... Her d'ave the vallin-ill sometimes two or dree times a week.
falling sickness n. [compare Old English fiellesēocnes (compare Old English fiell : see fall n.2)] now chiefly historical
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > fit or stroke > epilepsy
brothfallc1175
foul evila1398
the falling evila1400
falling gouta1400
land-evilc1440
falling sickness1485
epilency1495
falling-ill1561
comitial fit1562
St John's disease1574
epilepsy1578
falling disease1580
St John's evil1605
epilepse1804
sacred malady-
1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. bvijv/1 There atte laste were guarysshed & heled..of the fallyng sekenes lxv.
1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Cv An ounce is good for them that haue the fallynge sekenesse.
1615 T. Overbury et al. New & Choise Characters with Wife (6th impr.) sig. I4 She can easily turne a sempstresse, into a waiting gentlewoman, but her Ward-robe is most infectious, for it brings them to the Falling-sickenes.
a1632 T. Taylor Princ. Christian Pract. (1635) 570 But the most dangerous falling sicknesse, is, to fall into sinne.
1843 T. Watson Lect. Physic I. xxxv. 611 Its [sc. epilepsy] common designation is the falling sickness: or, more vaguely, fits.
1991 Folklore 102 193 The extraordinary ‘Evangiles de Quenouilles’..prohibits the young girl from eating sheeps' heads, cocks' crests or eels, on pain of falling victim to St. Loup's disease or epilepsy, but also that ‘falling sickness’ which causes young girls to fall on their backs in another sense.
2004 J. McCourt Queer Street xii. 189 We all have the falling sickness in here, Leda. Grand mal, the Fall of Man.
C2.
falling band n. now chiefly historical a broad band of fabric fastened at the neck and lying flat against the body; cf. fall n.2 30a.This style of collar was particularly fashionable during the 17th century.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > neck-wear > [noun] > collar > types of > other
rabat1578
falling band1581
rebato1589
fall1598
piccadill1607
golilla1673
collarettea1685
banda1700
turn-over1716
Vandyke1755
falling-down collar1758
falling collar1770
fall-down?1796
yoke collar1817
rabatine1821
dicky1830
dog collar1852
Piccadilly collar1853
all-rounder1854
all round1855
turnover collara1861
Quaker collar1869
Eton collar1875
Toby collar1885
Eton1887
sailor collar1895
roll-neck1898
Shakespeare collar1907
polo collar1909
white-collar1910
tab collar1928
Peter Pan collar1948
tie-neck1968
1581 B. Rich Farewell Militarie Profession sig. Dd.ijv A little fallyng bande, that makes theim looke like one of the Queenes silke women.
1598 J. Marston Certaine Satyres iii, in Metamorph. Pigmalions Image 51 Vnder that fayre Ruffe so sprucely set Appeares a fall, a falling-band forsooth.
1637 Earl of Cork Diary in Sir R. Boyle Diary (1886) 1st Ser. V. 39 Sent me this daie..6 laced ffalling bands and vi pair of cuffes sutable.
1769 J. Granger Charles I in Biogr. Hist. Eng. I. 571 Laced handkerchiefs, resembling the large falling band worn by the men, were in fashion among the ladies.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. iv. 76 You must..wear..your falling band unrumpled and well starched.
1865 F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xxiv. 297 The ruff gave way to the ‘falling band’.
1983 L. Mitchell Staging Premodern Drama xiii. 147 Ananias and Tribulation need to be recognized as Puritans by their familiar falling bands and plain cassocks.
2010 P. F. Chisholm Murder of Crows 59 A round-faced man in a fine wool suit with a snowy falling band.
falling board n. now historical and rare a board fixed to a wall and folding down to rest on a support and form a table as required; (also) a flap on a cabinet, etc., which folds down, typically to form a writing table.
ΚΠ
1588 in J. M. Bestall & D. V. Fowkes Chesterfield Wills & Inventories, 1521–1603 (1977) 214 2 black potes... 1 falling bord in the house.
1729 in M. Bodfish Probate Inventories of Smethwick Residents 1647–1747 (1992) 70 In the Chichen..1 Tabell..1 chestt and Falling bord.
1831 E. L. Hazelius tr. J. H. Jung-Stilling Life ii. 14 Opposite the stove, was the table,..fastened to the wall, in the form of a falling board.
1839 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. (new ed.) i. iii. 302 Fig. 577 has a falling board or flap, which, when let down,..forms a writing-desk.
2012 C. Sykes & R. J. Noble tr. É. Bayard ABC of Style 110/1 In the body of the cabinet, hidden behind falling boards decorated with plates.., are a large number of artistically decorated small drawers.
falling collar n. a wide collar which lies flat; cf. fall-down adj. 1.Cf. earlier falling-down collar n. at falling-down adj. and adv. Compounds.In later historical use sometimes referring specifically to the falling band of the 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > neck-wear > [noun] > collar > types of > other
rabat1578
falling band1581
rebato1589
fall1598
piccadill1607
golilla1673
collarettea1685
banda1700
turn-over1716
Vandyke1755
falling-down collar1758
falling collar1770
fall-down?1796
yoke collar1817
rabatine1821
dicky1830
dog collar1852
Piccadilly collar1853
all-rounder1854
all round1855
turnover collara1861
Quaker collar1869
Eton collar1875
Toby collar1885
Eton1887
sailor collar1895
roll-neck1898
Shakespeare collar1907
polo collar1909
white-collar1910
tab collar1928
Peter Pan collar1948
tie-neck1968
1770 M. Tyson Acct. Illuminated MS 5 His Surcoat or outward Veil is Crimson, lined with white, with a falling Collar of white.
1862 Revised Regs. Army U.S. 478 A sack coat..made loose, without sleeve or body lining, falling collar, inside pocket on the left side.
a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) I. vi. 62 Two boys, in the most youthful kind of jackets and trousers, and falling collars.
1899 Newcastle Weekly Courant 22 July 5/4 I wonder whether men will ever take to soft silk shirts and embroidered falling collars for evening wear.
1901 Artist Mar. 112/1 In the same case is a fine needlepoint falling collar of the middle of the 17th century with raised flowers.
1986 Observer 19 Oct. 53/4 A curvy jacket, sliced into a V at the front, with a large falling collar.
2006 B. Ravelhofer Early Stuart Masque 216 The heeled shoes with roses, the haircut, the falling collar, and cuffs corresponded with contemporary Caroline fashion.
falling door n. (a) a door designed to fall into place, rather than opening sideways; (originally) spec. a trapdoor; (b) (in quot. 1753) = folding door n. (obsolete rare). [Compare Old Saxon uallanda duri folding doors.]
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > window or door > types of door > [noun] > other types of door
hall-doorc1275
falling doorc1300
stable doorc1330
vice-door1354
hecka1400
lodge-doorc1400
street door1465
gate-doora1500
portal1516
backdoor1530
portal door1532
side door1535
by-door1542
outer door1548
postern door1551
house door1565
fore-door1581
way-door1597
leaf door1600
folding door1611
clap-door1625
balcony-door1635
out-door1646
anteportc1660
screen door1668
frontish-door1703
posticum1704
side entrance1724
sash-door1726
Venetian door1731
oak1780
jib-door1800
trellis?c1800
sporting door1824
ledge-door1825
through door1827
bivalves1832
swing-door1833
tradesmen's entrance1838
ledged door1851
tradesmen's door?1851
fire door1876
storm door1878
shoji1880
fire door1889
Dutch door1890
patio door1900
stable door1900
ledge(d) and brace(d) door1901
suicide door1925
louvre door1953
c1300 St. Leonard (Laud) l. 131 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 460 On-ouewarde [i.e. at the top of] þe fallinde dore..A strong ȝwuchche of Ire he liet maken.
1566 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure I. lii. f. 302v The Chamber was so well hanged with Tapistrie..and so trimly matted, as it was impossible to perceyue a falling dore, which was by the beddes side.
1646 R. Josselin Diary 7 Mar. (1976) 55 The Falling doore in my chamber being carelessly haspt fell downe presently after my mayde and daughter were gone downe.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea I. ii. xxxiv. 231 The Divan, or open hall, is in the centre, and shuts in with falling-doors.
1868 R. Mallet Locks & Safes 205 This should..have an outer double-cased steel door, or perhaps that and an intermediate iron falling-door or portcullis, between the outer door and the safe-door.
1908 Daily Consular & Trade Rep. 1 June 5 The two folding doors open outward and form wings to the falling door or ramp.
1994 Wildlife Soc. Bull. 22 644/1 Box traps were wire cages with a spring loaded falling door.
falling gate n. †(a) a gate at the entrance to an enclosure for livestock, an enclosed field, etc.; = falgate n. (obsolete rare); (b) a portcullis (now rare); (occasionally) †a drawbridge (obsolete); (c) = falling sluice n. (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > lake > pool > [noun] > artificially confined water > contrivance for impounding water > gate, lock, or sluice
hatchOE
clowa1250
lock1261
water lock1261
sluice1340
water gate1390
sewer-gate1402
spay1415
floodgatec1440
shuttlec1440
spayer1450
gate1496
falling gate1524
spoye1528
gote1531
penstock1542
ventil1570
drawgate1587
flood-hatch1587
turnpike1623
slaker1664
lock gate1677
hatchway1705
flash1768
turnpike-lock1771
sluice-gate1781
pound-lock1783
stop-gate1790
buck gate1791
slacker1797
aboiteau1802
koker1814
guard-lock1815
falling sluice1819
lasher1840
fender1847
tailgate1875
weir-hatch1875
wicket1875
1524 in J. L. Fisher Medieval Farming Gloss. (1968) 13 [Shelley, Essex] Fallyngegate, wicket-gate.
1564 in J. Nichols Progresses Queen Elizabeth (2014) I. 391 At the corner at the quenes colledge and Martyn gylles house was set a great fallying gate with locke and stapull.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Portcullise, a falling gate to keepe out enemies from a Cittie, or keepe them in.
1801 Act 41 George III c. 134. 2559 Two clear Openings..in which shall be placed Falling Gates.
1843 Amer. Pioneer Sept. 387 A plan of Fort Defiance... A falling gate or drawbridge which was raised and lowered by pullies, across the ditch.
1937 E. E. Lenz Lenz Family i. 5 A deep moat, drawbridge and a huge falling gate make perfect the restoration of this ancient feudal castle.
1982 Organiser 12 Jan. 12/4 If automatic falling gates are used on the check Dams there will be no danger of out-flanking and no silt deposition will take place against the Dam weir.
falling hinge n. now rare a door hinge with a spiral joint which lowers the door slightly as it is opened; cf. rising hinge n. at rising adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > hinge > rising or falling hinge
falling hinge1777
rising hinge1798
rising butt1836
1777 Premiums (Soc. Encouragem. Arts, Manuf., & Commerce) 78 A falling Hinge, by Mr. Gascoigne.
1845 J. Sandford Parochialia ii. i. i. 81 The inner doors should be light, and hung on falling hinges.
1961 Archit. Ironmongery Catal. (Metal Agencies Co., Bristol) 89 110 Screw rising hinges, to close door... Screw falling hinges, to keep door open.
falling house n. [after post-classical Latin domus cadens (13th cent. in Bartholomaeus Anglicus)] Astrology (now rare) (chiefly in plural) the last house of each quadrant of the zodiac; also called cadent house (see cadent adj. 2).A planet passing into a falling house is generally considered by astrologers to have a lower degree of influence than when located in the first house of the quadrant (the angular or cardinal house) or the second house (the succedent house).
ΚΠ
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. viii. ix. 464 Þe oþir signes beþ iclepid domus cadentes ‘fallynge houses’.
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iv. xxxvi. f. 232 Those that goe next before any of the foure principall Angles are called falling houses.
1726 S. Penseyre New Guide Astrol. 14 The next that follow those principal Angles are called Succeedent Houses; and next to them are term'd Cadents and falling Houses.
1887 London Soc. Mar. 290 The remaining third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth were ‘cadent’ or falling houses.
2007 J. Frawley Sports Astrol. 195 Mars is in a cadent (falling) house; the Sun is in its fall: similar testimonies.
falling knife n. Stock Market slang (originally U.S.) a stock, share, commodity, etc., which is undergoing a rapid decline in price or value.So called because, just as it is safer to allow a falling knife to land before attempting to pick it up (cf. quot. 1974), it is typically advisable to wait until a stock, share, etc., is at its lowest point before buying into it.
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1974 Forbes 1 Feb. 62/2 A very wise Wall Streeter once told me: ‘Never try to catch a falling knife; you can lose your hand. Wait until it hits something. Then wait until it stops quivering. Then you can pick the knife up safely.’ That's precisely the way I feel about the stock market at this stage of the energy crisis: Be careful; it is still quivering.]
1987 Washington Post 15 Oct. f3/4 We'll sit on our hands for a while. They say never try to catch a falling knife. This market looks like a falling knife to me.
2000 T. Turner Beginner's Guide Day Trading Online xii. 247 Traders call stocks like these ‘falling knives’. Please don't try to catch one. The results can hurt.
2015 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 4 Oct. 60 Picking up the occasional falling knife can seem hit-or-miss. But it is vital to determine if the price drop is justified or caused by market over-reaction.
falling leaf n. an aerobatic manoeuvre in which an aeroplane is repeatedly stalled and side-slipped while losing height, causing it to move in a to-and-fro swaying motion similar to that of a leaf falling.In quot. 1957 in extended use with reference to bird flight.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > aerobatics > [noun] > stunt > specific
loop1900
looping1914
barrel roll1917
falling leaf1917
renversement1918
vrille1918
slow roll1923
slow-rolling1923
aileron roll1924
flick roll1928
wing-over1928
lazy eight1930
bunt1932
aileron turn1942
victory roll1942
rollover1945
twinkle roll1962
rollback1978
1915 Logansport (Indiana) Jrnl.-Tribune 27 May 2/4 The most dangerous part of his exhibition is said to be the ‘Leaf Drop’ which resembles a huge leaf falling from a tree. In this the public look on in horror as they see the machine turn over and over in its mad rush toward the earth.]
1917 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 1 Aug. 5/2 Brown's aerial stunts... Flutter or falling leaf dive.
1918 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune & Leader-Press 3 Feb. 5/2 I turned on one wing, did the ‘falling leaf’ for a drop of five hundred meters, and climbed up another thousand a little farther on.
1957 D. A. Bannerman 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.
1970 H. 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.
2011 J. Sherman Walking on Air i. 8 The falling leaf required the aircraft to be stalled and forced into a spin.
falling mould n. Building and Joinery each of two patterns used to form the back and under sides of the handrail of a stair.
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1778 W. Pain Carpenter's & Joiner's Repository facing Pl. XLVII When the Curve of the Falling Mould is traced, set the Depth of the Rail upwards.
1879 Illustr. Wood-worker Feb. 22/1 By removing the slabs as marked, the inner and outer twists are obtained for the application of the falling moulds, which gives the twist of the top and bottom faces and also the thickness of the rail.
2000 B. Porter & R. Rose Carpentry & Joinery xi. 260/1 Once the vertical faces of the wreath have been worked the two falling moulds can be applied.
falling-rising adj. Phonetics designating an intonation consisting of a lowering and subsequent raising of pitch; characterized by such an intonation; cf. fall-rise adj. and n. at fall n.2 Compounds 4.
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1888 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 9 39 Let us suppose that..there exists a single instance of a long monosyllable consisting of consonant + long vowel + consonant with falling-rising inflection.
1892 H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. I. 228 The compound rise or falling-rising tone (marked ˇ) may be heard in take care! when used warningly.
1958 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 24 240/2 The single word ‘once upon a time’ is stated..to have a falling-rising tone; we may write this ʔukn′ii′.
2005 C. Goddard Langs. East & Southeast Asia v. 166 In Mandarin Chinese the falling-rising tone is not normally pronounced as such in ordinary speech.
falling ruff n. now historical an unstarched ruff fitting loosely around the neck and falling over the shoulders.
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1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. ii. 17/1 He beareth Vert, a falling Ruffe, with Strings pendant.
1735 F. Peck Desiderata Curiosa II. xv. ii. 575 On his cenotaph..he is pourtrayed with a single falling ruff.
1868 Notes & Queries 23 May 492/1 A white falling ruff, or frill, covers the neck, and the sleeves of her black dress are made quite tight.
1981 Antiquaries Jrnl. 61 i. 118 She wears a high-necked bodice, a falling ruff made of lace.
2013 K. A. Staples & M. C. Shaw Clothing through Amer. Hist. v. 304 Falling ruffs might be of plain linen or lace trimmed.
falling sluice n. now rare (in a dam, weir, etc.) a gate that drops open automatically as a flood-prevention measure when water levels reach a certain height.
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the world > the earth > water > lake > pool > [noun] > artificially confined water > contrivance for impounding water > gate, lock, or sluice
hatchOE
clowa1250
lock1261
water lock1261
sluice1340
water gate1390
sewer-gate1402
spay1415
floodgatec1440
shuttlec1440
spayer1450
gate1496
falling gate1524
spoye1528
gote1531
penstock1542
ventil1570
drawgate1587
flood-hatch1587
turnpike1623
slaker1664
lock gate1677
hatchway1705
flash1768
turnpike-lock1771
sluice-gate1781
pound-lock1783
stop-gate1790
buck gate1791
slacker1797
aboiteau1802
koker1814
guard-lock1815
falling sluice1819
lasher1840
fender1847
tailgate1875
weir-hatch1875
wicket1875
1819 P. Nicholson Archit. Dict. I. ii. 1/2 Falling-Sluices, in enginery, gates contrived to fall down of themselves, and enlarge the water-way, on the increase of a flood, in a mill-dam, or the pond of a river navigation.
1846 W. M. Buchanan 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.
1932 Engineering 22 Jan. 98/2 The works at the intake to the canal consist of a regulator with eight openings... Seven of these openings are equipped with a falling sluice.
falling table n. now historical and somewhat rare a table with hinged leaves which can be dropped when not in use; spec. a gateleg table (see gate-leg adj. at gate n.1 Compounds 2).
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1587 in F. G. Emmison Essex Wills (1995) (modernized text) X. 251 Benchboards and painted cloths, a falling table, and a trammel.
1641 Inventory Goods Countess of Arundel 8 Sept. in Burlington Mag. (1912) Jan. 234/1 A little greene falling Table hanging upon a Frame.
1766 Manch. Mercury 1 Apr. 4/1 (advt.) The Stock in Trade of the late Mr. William Wells, Cabinet-maker.., consisting of Dining Tables, Falling Tables.., [etc.].
1862 Dublin Univ. Mag. Sept. 365/2 She turned in to let down her little falling table and spread the cloth.
1993 N. W. Alcock People at Home 202 New furniture meant new fashions. Court cupboards or dressers replaced aumbries; chairs and falling tables might supersede trestle tables and forms.
falling weather n. now chiefly U.S. colloquial and regional weather characterized by (the prospect of) precipitation; wet or damp weather.
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1639 J. Taylor Part Summers Trav. 29 Four or five men may walk in the most parts of a breast, dry from the injury of Raine, or any falling Weather.
1733 B. Franklin Poor Richard's Almanack 16 Windy & Falling weather.
1780 in Coll. New Hampsh. Hist. Soc. (1889) IX. 176 Cloudy but no falling weather.
1808 Hampshire Tel. & Sussex Chron. 15 Feb. Scarce any business was done this forenoon, owing to the falling weather.
1838 C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron xxv. 172 It looks like falling weather, and my old drab will come in well to-day.
1899 A. Bubb in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 291/1 [Gloucestershire] There'll be falling-weather before night.
1924 Brandon (Manitoba) Daily Sun 9 July 6/5 It [sc. the cuckoo] is called the ‘raincrow’ because of its supposed instinctive knowledge of approaching storms and falling weather.
1965 J. M. Brewer Worser Days 131 Looks like we might have ‘fallin' weather’ today; it kinda favors snow.
1999 A. Sinclair I left my Back Door Open ix. 91 ‘We got some falling weather out there,’ I said against the backdrop of thunder. ‘It's really coming down now.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1OE
adj.n.2eOE