▪ I. falling, vbl. n.
(ˈfɔːlɪŋ)
[f. fall v. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. fall.
1. In intransitive senses.
| c 1300 Cursor M. 1854 (Cott.) Abute fiue monetz was þat it stud Wit-outen falling þat fers fludd. c 1340 Ibid. 411 heading (Fairf.) Þe fallinge of lucifer and his felawes. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 11 She..in her fallyng cried helpe on our lady. 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §13 From the tyme of the falling of theym [lambs] unto the feast of..Seynt John Baptyste. 1563 Fulke Meteors (1640) 55 b, Sleet..beginneth to melt in the falling. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Ravallement..a falling in price, as the falling of the market. 1621 Sanderson Serm. I. 214 Vzza had better have ventured the falling, than the fingering of the ark. 1771 E. Griffith tr. Viaud's Shipwreck 109 The falling of night would otherwise have forced us to lay aside our labour. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 378 The falling of the drops of alcohol from the beak of the receiver. 1839 Longfellow 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. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. i. 5 In Septembre in fallynge of the lefe. |
| b. 1555 Eden Decades 1 Folowinge the fallinge of the sonne. |
| c. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 303 For fallinge of þe maris þat is cleped dislocacioun of the maris. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Falling of the womb, a popular term for Prolapsus uteri. |
| d. 1658 Willsford 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. 1688 J. Smith Baroscope 65 Wet and Rainy Weather come presently upon the Mercury's Falling. 1814 W. C. Wells Ess. Dew 9 The falling of the mercury in the barometer. 1860 Adm. Fitz-Roy in Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 340 Indications of approaching changes..are shown..by its [the barometer's] falling or rising. |
| e. 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. i. vi. 17 The falling of a Song. 1674 Simpson in Campion Art of Descant 4 foot-n., If the Bass do rise more than a fourth, it must be called falling. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. ix. 186 A falling..at the Beginning of a Strain. |
3. In transitive senses.
| 1580 Lease in Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 237 At every falling he will leave for every acre fallen..twelve trees. 1699 Luttrell 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.| 1563 Golding Cæsar 61 b, High rockes and steepe fallings. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1622) 250 Amphialus embushed his footemen in the falling of a hill. 1684 R. H. Sch. Recreat. 83 Observe..the Risings, Fallings, and Advantages of the Places where you Bowl. 1712 J. 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. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lxi. 4 And olde fallingus thei shul rere, and thei shul restore cities forsaken. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 214 A great part of it..is..almost couered with the aforesayd fallings. |
| b. 1608 Yorksh. Trag. i. i, Apples hanging longer..than when they are ripe, make so many fallings. a 1661 Holyday Juvenal 180 Virro was capable of such caduca, such fallings..such windfalls. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 103 Tis the beggar's gain To glean the fallings of the loaded wain. 1847–78 Halliwell, Fallings, dropped fruit. South. |
6. a. With adverbs, expressing the action of the
vbl. combinations under
fall v. XI.
| 1440 Promp. Parv., Fallynge downe, idem est quod Fallynge evylle. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Catarrhe..the Catarre or fallyng downe of humours. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 401 The falling from of his Friendes. 1611 Bible 2 Thess. ii. 3 That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 200 They..observed the falling back of the French. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. 315 Numbers..are lost by the falling in of the Earth. 1748 Richardson Clarissa VII. v. 26 All her falling away, and her fainting fits. 1878 L. 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.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 47 Oh Hamlet, what a falling off was there. 1709 Steele & Addison Tatler No. 111 ¶4 A Falling off from those Schemes of Thinking. 1802 T. Beddoes Hygëia vii, Should it be accompanied by falling off in flesh. 1834 Brit. Husb. III. 60 A falling off of the milk is immediately noticed. 1837 Whittier Barclay of Ury xv, Hard to feel the stranger's scoff, Hard the old friend's falling off. 1883 E. 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.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 97 This fallyng out of king John with..Geoffrey Archebishop of Yorke. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 56 The falling out of verses together in one like sounde, is commonly called..Ryme. 1667 Pepys Diary (1877) V. 194, I have heard of a falling out between my Lord Arlington..and W. Coventry. 1741 Richardson Pamela III. 337 We had a sad Falling-out t'other Day. 1838 Dickens 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. 1847 Tennyson Princess i. 251 Blessings on the falling out That all the more endears. 1919 H. 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.
| 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. 1916 A. Bennett These Twain xi. 221 His life seemed to be a life of half-measures, a continual falling-short. 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.’ |
7. = felling vbl. n. 1. Also
attrib., in
falling axe,
falling rope,
falling saw,
falling wedge. Now
N. Amer.,
Austral., and
N.Z.| 1388 Wyclif Ps. lxxiii. 6 Thei castiden down it with an ax, and a brood fallinge ax. 1580 [see sense 3]. 1678 New Castle (Delaware) Court Rec. (1904) 362, 3 falling axses. 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. 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 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. 1943 R. E. Swanson Rhymes Lumberjack 12 So huge they were (both cedar and fir) that days were spent in their falling. 1946 F. 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. 1960 Citizen (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.
| 1859 Nat. Rev. Oct. 375 In the first place, a fighting period; and in the next place, a falling-in-love period. 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. 1963 Auden 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.| a 1300 Cursor M. 27581 (Cott.) Þe standand fall, þe falland rise. 1611 Bible Isa. xxxiv. 4 All their hoste shall fall downe..as a falling figge from the figge tree. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 333 Presse not a falling man too farre. 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Bacon. 170 The high Hils..break of the storms and falling Snow. 1695 Congreve Love for L. Prol., One falling Adam, and one tempted Eve. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 86 Dark Prophecies predict our falling State. 1717 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. (1763) II. xxix. 29 My Caftan..is a robe..with very long strait falling sleeves. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. i. 490 The vessel parted on the falling tide. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 148 The weakness of the falling empire. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. vi. 99 Hein's frowning brow and falling countenance. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. i. iv. 28 The long throat and falling shoulders. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. iii. xxiv. §3 The speculative holders are unwilling to sell in a falling market. 1858 in Merc. Marine Mag. V. 12 Kate Hooper..had strong..winds..with falling barometer. 1874 Knight 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).
| 1844 Beck & Felton tr. Munk's Metres 8 A rhythm which begins with the arsis, and descends to the thesis, is called falling or sinking. 1924 H. E. Palmer Gram. Spoken Eng. i. 13 Falling-Rising Nucleus-tone. 1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Ling. iii. 111 Falling-rising tones. |
3. Astrol. falling houses (see
cadent a. 2).
| 1594 Blundevil 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.
| 1887 Sci. 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.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 176 Fallinde vuel ich cleopie licomes sicnesse. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters C v, An ounce is good for them that haue the fallynge sekenesse. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 171 The gall of a Ferret is commended against the Falling disease. 1652 Woman's Universe in Watson Collect. Scots Poems iii. (1711) 101 Hippocrates..Could never cure her Falling-ill, Which takes her when she pleases. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Falling Evil, a Disease which sometimes happens to Horses, being no other than the Falling-sickness. 1733 Franklin Poor Richard's Almanac 6 Windy and falling weather. 1760 Washington Diaries I. 112 The morning..promised much rain or other falling weather. 1780 in Coll. New H. Hist. Soc. IX. 176 Cloudy but no 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. 1843 Sir T. Watson Lect. Physic (1871) I. 630 Its [epilepsy's] common designation is the falling sickness; or, more vaguely, fits. 1859 Bartlett 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). 1919 H. 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]. 1637 Earl 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. |
| 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. 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. I. vi. 62 Two boys, in the most youthful kind of jackets and trousers, and falling collars. |
| 1753 Hanway Trav. I. ii. xxxiv. 231 The Divan, or open hall, is in the centre, and shuts in with *falling-doors. |
| 1801 Hull Navig. Act 2559 Two clear openings..in which shall be placed *falling gates. |
| 1783 Trans. Soc. Arts I. 320 A *falling hinge. |
| 1918 H. Barber Aerobatics 51 (caption) *Falling Leaf. 1935 H. G. Wells Things to Come ix. 82 Aeroplane looping the loop—then the falling leaf trick. 1957 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. |
| 1876 Gwilt 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. |
| 1846 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. |