fell
1 Americanverb
verb (used with object)
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to knock, strike, shoot, or cut down; cause to fall: to fell a tree.
to fell a moose;
to fell a tree.
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Sewing. to finish (a seam) by sewing the edge down flat.
noun
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Lumbering. the amount of timber cut down in one season.
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Sewing. a seam finished by felling.
noun
noun
verb
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to cut or knock down
to fell a tree
to fell an opponent
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needlework to fold under and sew flat (the edges of a seam)
noun
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the timber felled in one season
-
a seam finished by felling
adjective
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archaic cruel or fierce; terrible
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archaic destructive or deadly
a fell disease
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a single hasty action or occurrence
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
- fellable adjective
- fellness noun
Etymology
Origin of fell2
First recorded before 900; Middle English fellen, fillen, fullen, Old English fellan, fyllan “to cut, cut down, destroy, shed (tears),” causative of feallan “to fall, fall down”; cognate with Gothic falljan, Old Frisian falla, fella, Old High German fellen, German fällen “to make fall”; fall
Origin of fell3
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English fel “treacherous, deceitful, false,” from Old French, nominative of felon “wicked”; felon 1
Origin of fell4
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English fel(l); cognate with Dutch vel, German Fell, Old Norse -fjall (as in berfjall “bearskin”), Gothic -fill (in thrutsfill “leprosy,” literally “scab skin”); akin to Latin pellis “skin, hide,” Greek péltē “small, light, leather-covered shield”
Origin of fell5
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English fel “hill, mountain; upland or pasture; a moor or down”; from Old Norse fjall, -fell, “hill, mountain,” akin to German Fels “rock, cliff”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then a curtain fell, fireworks exploded, a band appeared and Sombr got back up on his podium to finish the set.
From BBC
From just before the Wall fell to now, the “guns” sector had the third-best total return out of 49 U.S. sectors defined by Kenneth French, a Dartmouth finance professor.
But as bombs fell 7,500 miles away in Tehran, members of West L.A.’s Iranian American community spent Saturday celebrating a day some had been awaiting for nearly half a century.
From Los Angeles Times
This see-saw effect, which protected portfolios for decades, broke in 2022, when the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates to fight inflation—and both stocks and bond prices fell.
From Barron's
This see-saw effect, which protected portfolios for decades, broke in 2022, when the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates to fight inflation—and both stocks and bond prices fell.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
