If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and
you'll forget them all.
Pope.
19. To be dropped or uttered carelessly; as, an unguarded expression
fell from his lips; not a murmur fell from him.
To fall abroad of (Naut.), to strike against; -- applied to one vessel
coming into collision with another. -- To fall among, to come among
accidentally or unexpectedly. -- To fall astern (Naut.), to move or be
driven backward; to be left behind; as, a ship falls astern by the
force of a current, or when outsailed by another. -- To fall away. (a)
To lose flesh; to become lean or emaciated; to pine. (b) To renounce or
desert allegiance; to revolt or rebel. (c) To renounce or desert the
faith; to apostatize. "These . . . for a while believe, and in time of
temptation fall away." Luke viii. 13. (d) To perish; to vanish; to be
lost. "How . . . can the soul . . . fall away into nothing?" Addison.
(e) To decline gradually; to fade; to languish, or become faint. "One
color falls away by just degrees, and another rises insensibly."
Addison. -- To fall back. (a) To recede or retreat; to give way. (b) To
fail of performing a promise or purpose; not to fulfill. -- To fall
back upon. (a) (Mil.) To retreat for safety to (a stronger position in
the rear, as to a fort or a supporting body of troops). (b) To have
recourse to (a reserved fund, or some available expedient or support).
-- To fall calm, to cease to blow; to become calm. -- To fall down. (a)
To prostrate one's self in worship. "All kings shall fall down before
him." Ps. lxxii. 11. (b) To sink; to come to the ground. "Down fell the
beauteous youth." Dryden. (c) To bend or bow, as a suppliant. (d)
(Naut.) To sail or drift toward the mouth of a river or other outlet.
-- To fall flat, to produce no response or result; to fail of the
intended effect; as, his speech fell flat. -- To fall foul of. (a)
(Naut.) To have a collision with; to become entangled with (b) To
attack; to make an assault upon. -- To fall from, to recede or depart
from; not to adhere to; as, to fall from an agreement or engagement; to
fall from allegiance or duty. -- To fall from grace (M. E. Ch.), to
sin; to withdraw from the faith. -- To fall home (Ship Carp.), to curve
inward; -- said of the timbers or upper parts of a ship's side which
are much within a perpendicular. -- To fall in. (a) To sink inwards;
as, the roof fell in. (b) (Mil.) To take one's proper or assigned place
in line; as, to fall in on the right. (c) To come to an end; to
terminate; to lapse; as, on the death of Mr. B., the annuuity, which he
had so long received, fell in. (d) To become operative. "The reversion,
to which he had been nominated twenty years before, fell in." Macaulay.
-- To fall into one's hands, to pass, often suddenly or unexpectedly,
into one's ownership or control; as, to spike cannon when they are
likely to fall into the hands of the enemy. -- To fall in with. (a) To
meet with accidentally; as, to fall in with a friend. (b) (Naut.) To
meet, as a ship; also, to discover or come near, as land. (c) To concur
with; to agree with; as, the measure falls in with popular opinion. (d)
To comply; to yield to. "You will find it difficult to persuade learned
men to fall in with your projects." Addison. -- To fall off. (a) To
drop; as, fruits fall off when ripe. (b) To withdraw; to separate; to
become detached; as, friends fall off in adversity. "Love cools,
friendship falls off, brothers divide." Shak. (c) To perish; to die
away; as, words fall off by disuse. (d) To apostatize; to forsake; to
withdraw from the faith, or from allegiance or duty.
Those captive tribes . . . fell off From God to worship calves.
Milton.
(e) To forsake; to abandon; as, his customers fell off. (f) To
depreciate; to change for the worse; to deteriorate; to become less
valuable, abundant, or interesting; as, a falling off in the wheat
crop; the magazine or the review falls off. "O Hamlet, what a falling
off was there!" Shak. (g) (Naut.) To deviate or trend to the leeward of
the point to which the head of the ship was before directed; to fall to
leeward. -- To fall on. (a) To meet with; to light upon; as, we have
fallen on evil days. (b) To begin suddenly and eagerly. "Fall on, and
try the appetite to eat." Dryden. (c) To begin an attack; to assault;
to assail. "Fall on, fall on, and hear him not." Dryden. (d) To drop
on; to descend on. -- To fall out. (a) To quarrel; to begin to contend.
A soul exasperated in ills falls out With everything, its friend,
itself.
Addison.
(b) To happen; to befall; to chance. "There fell out a bloody quarrel
betwixt the frogs and the mice." L'Estrange. (c) (Mil.) To leave the
ranks, as a soldier. -- To fall over. (a) To revolt; to desert from one
side to another. (b) To fall beyond. Shak. -- To fall short, to be
deficient; as, the corn falls short; they all fall short in duty. -- To
fall through, to come to nothing; to fail; as, the engageent has fallen
through. - - To fall to, to begin. "Fall to, with eager joy, on homely
food." Dryden. -- To fall under. (a) To come under, or within the
limits of; to be subjected to; as, they fell under the jurisdiction of
the emperor. (b) To come under; to become the subject of; as, this
point did not fall under the cognizance or deliberations of the court;
these things do not fall under human sight or observation. (c) To come
within; to be ranged or reckoned with; to be subordinate to in the way
of classification; as, these substances fall under a different class or
order. -- To fall upon. (a) To attack. [See To fall on.] (b) To
attempt; to have recourse to. "I do not intend to fall upon nice
disquisitions." Holder. (c) To rush against.
Fall primarily denotes descending motion, either in a perpendicular or
inclined direction, and, in most of its applications, implies,
literally or figuratively, velocity, haste, suddenness, or violence.
Its use is so various, and so mush diversified by modifying words, that
it is not easy to enumerate its senses in all its applications.