Chapter 4

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.

Fall (?), v. t. 1. To let fall; to drop. [Obs.]

For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.

Shak.

2. To sink; to depress; as, to fall the voice. [Obs.]

3. To diminish; to lessen or lower. [Obs.]

Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.

Locke.

4. To bring forth; as, to fall lambs. [R.] Shak.

5. To fell; to cut down; as, to fall a tree. [Prov. Eng. & Local, U.S.]

Fall, n. 1. The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship.

2. The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he was walking on ice, and had a fall.

3. Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin.

They thy fall conspire.

Denham.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Prov. xvi. 18.

4. Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office; termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire.

Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall.

Pope.

5. The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall of Sebastopol.

6. Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents.

7. A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the close of a sentence.

8. Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope.

9. Descent of water; a cascade; a cataract; a rush of water down a precipice or steep; -- usually in the plural, sometimes in the singular; as, the falls of Niagara.

10. The discharge of a river or current of water into the ocean, or into a lake or pond; as, the fall of the Po into the Gulf of Venice. Addison.

11. Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the water of a stream has a fall of five feet.

12. The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn.

What crowds of patients the town doctor kills, Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills.

Dryden.

13. That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall of snow.

14. The act of felling or cutting down. "The fall of timber." Johnson.

15. Lapse or declension from innocence or goodness. Specifically: The first apostasy; the act of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit; also, the apostasy of the rebellious angels.

16. Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling band; a faule. B. Jonson.

17. That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.

Fall herring (Zoˆl.), a herring of the Atlantic (Clupea mediocris); -- also called tailor herring, and hickory shad. -- To try a fall, to try a bout at wrestling. Shak.

Fal*la"cious (?), a. [L. fallaciosus, fr. fallacia: cf. F. fallacieux. See Fallacy.] Embodying or pertaining to a fallacy; illogical; fitted to deceive; misleading; delusive; as, fallacious arguments or reasoning. -- Fal*la"cious*ly, adv. - Fal*la"cious*ness, n.

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Fal"la*cy (fl"l*s), n.; pl. Fallacies (- sz). [OE. fallace, fallas, deception, F. fallace, fr. L. fallacia, fr. fallax deceitful, deceptive, fr. fallere to deceive. See Fail.] 1. Deceptive or false appearance; deceitfulness; that which misleads the eye or the mind; deception.

Winning by conquest what the first man lost, By fallacy surprised.

Milton.

2. (Logic) An argument, or apparent argument, which professes to be decisive of the matter at issue, while in reality it is not; a sophism.

Syn. -- Deception; deceit; mistake. -- Fallacy, Sophistry. A fallacy is an argument which professes to be decisive, but in reality is not; sophistry is also false reasoning, but of so specious and subtle a kind as to render it difficult to expose its fallacy. Many fallacies are obvious, but the evil of sophistry lies in its consummate art. "Men are apt to suffer their minds to be misled by fallacies which gratify their passions. Many persons have obscured and confounded the nature of things by their wretched sophistry; though an act be never so sinful, they will strip it of its guilt." South.

Fal"-lals` (?), n. pl. Gay ornaments; frippery; gewgaws. [Colloq.] Thackeray.

Fal"lax (?), n. [L. fallax deceptive. See Fallacy.] Cavillation; a caviling. [Obs.] Cranmer.

Fall"en (?), a. Dropped; prostrate; degraded; ruined; decreased; dead.

Some ruined temple or fallen monument.

Rogers.

Fal"len*cy (?), n. [LL. fallentia, L. fallens p. pr of fallere.] An exception. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor.

Fall"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, falls.

2. (Mach.) A part which acts by falling, as a stamp in a fulling mill, or the device in a spinning machine to arrest motion when a thread breaks.

Fall"fish` (?), n. (Zoˆl.) A fresh-water fish of the United States (Semotilus bullaris); -- called also silver chub, and Shiner. The name is also applied to other allied species.

Fal`li*bil"i*ty (?), n. The state of being fallible; liability to deceive or to be deceived; as, the fallibity of an argument or of an adviser.

Fal"li*ble (?), a. [LL. fallibilis, fr. L. fallere to deceive: cf. F. faillible. See Fail.] Liable to fail, mistake, or err; liable to deceive or to be deceived; as, all men are fallible; our opinions and hopes are fallible.

Fal"li*bly, adv. In a fallible manner.

Fall"ing (?), a. & n. from Fall, v. i.

Falling away, Falling off, etc. See To fall away, To fall off, etc., under Fall, v. i. -- Falling band, the plain, broad, linen collar turning down over the doublet, worn in the early part of the 17th century. -- Falling sickness (Med.), epilepsy. Shak. -- Falling star. (Astron.) See Shooting star. -- Falling stone, a stone falling through the atmosphere; a meteorite; an aÎrolite. -- Falling tide, the ebb tide. -- Falling weather, a rainy season. [Colloq.] Bartlett.

Fal*lo"pi*an (?), a. [From Fallopius, or Fallopio, a physician of Modena, who died in 1562.] (Anat.) Pertaining to, or discovered by, Fallopius; as, the Fallopian tubes or oviducts, the ducts or canals which conduct the ova from the ovaries to the uterus.

Fal"low (?), a. [AS. fealu, fealo, pale yellow or red; akin to D. vaal fallow, faded, OHG. falo, G. falb, fahl, Icel. fˆlr, and prob. to Lith. palvas, OSlav. plav white, L. pallidus pale, pallere to be pale, Gr. polio`s gray, Skr. palita. Cf. Pale, Favel, a., Favor.] 1. Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. Shak.

2. [Cf. Fallow, n.] Left untilled or unsowed after plowing; uncultivated; as, fallow ground.

Fallow chat, Fallow finch (Zoˆl.), a small European bird, the wheatear (Saxicola únanthe). See Wheatear.

Fal"low, n. [So called from the fallow, or somewhat yellow, color of naked ground; or perh. akin to E. felly, n., cf. MHG. valgen to plow up, OHG. felga felly, harrow.] 1. Plowed land. [Obs.]

Who . . . pricketh his blind horse over the fallows.

Chaucer.

2. Land that has lain a year or more untilled or unseeded; land plowed without being sowed for the season.

The plowing of fallows is a benefit to land.

Mortimer.

3. The plowing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season; as, summer fallow, properly conducted, has ever been found a sure method of destroying weeds.

Be a complete summer fallow, land is rendered tender and mellow. The fallow gives it a better tilth than can be given by a fallow crop.

Sinclair.

Fallow crop, the crop taken from a green fallow. [Eng.] -- Green fallow, fallow whereby land is rendered mellow and clean from weeds, by cultivating some green crop, as turnips, potatoes, etc. [Eng.]

Fal"low (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fallowed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Fallowing.] [From Fallow, n.] To plow, harrow, and break up, as land, without seeding, for the purpose of destroying weeds and insects, and rendering it mellow; as, it is profitable to fallow cold, strong, clayey land.

Fal"low deer` (?). [So called from its fallow or pale yellow color.] (Zoˆl.) A European species of deer (Cervus dama), much smaller than the red deer. In summer both sexes are spotted with white. It is common in England, where it is often domesticated in the parks.

Fal"low*ist (?), n. One who favors the practice of fallowing land. [R.] Sinclair.

Fal"low*ness, n. A well or opening, through the successive floors of a warehouse or manufactory, through which goods are raised or lowered. [U.S.] Bartlett.

Fal"sa*ry (?), n. [L. falsarius, fr. falsus. See False, a.] A falsifier of evidence. [Obs.] Sheldon.

False (?), a. [Compar. Falser (?); superl. Falsest.] [L. falsus, p. p. of fallere to deceive; cf. OF. faus, fals, F. faux, and AS. fals fraud. See Fail, Fall.] 1. Uttering falsehood; unveracious; given to deceit; dishnest; as, a false witness.

2. Not faithful or loyal, as to obligations, allegiance, vows, etc.; untrue; treacherous; perfidious; as, a false friend, lover, or subject; false to promises.

I to myself was false, ere thou to me.

Milton.

3. Not according with truth or reality; not true; fitted or likely to deceive or disappoint; as, a false statement.

4. Not genuine or real; assumed or designed to deceive; counterfeit; hypocritical; as, false tears; false modesty; false colors; false jewelry.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Shak.

5. Not well founded; not firm or trustworthy; erroneous; as, a false claim; a false conclusion; a false construction in grammar.

Whose false foundation waves have swept away.

Spenser.

6. Not essential or permanent, as parts of a structure which are temporary or supplemental.

7. (Mus.) Not in tune.

False arch (Arch.), a member having the appearance of an arch, though not of arch construction. -- False attic, an architectural erection above the main cornice, concealing a roof, but not having windows or inclosing rooms. -- False bearing, any bearing which is not directly upon a vertical support; thus, the weight carried by a corbel has a false bearing. -- False cadence, an imperfect or interrupted cadence. -- False conception (Med.), an abnormal conception in which a mole, or misshapen fleshy mass, is produced instead of a properly organized fetus. -- False croup (Med.), a spasmodic affection of the larynx attended with the symptoms of membranous croup, but unassociated with the deposit of a fibrinous membrane. -- False door or window (Arch.), the representation of a door or window, inserted to complete a series of doors or windows or to give symmetry. -- False fire, a combustible carried by vessels of war, chiefly for signaling, but sometimes burned for the purpose of deceiving an enemy; also, a light on shore for decoying a vessel to destruction. -- False galena. See Blende. -- False imprisonment (Law), the arrest and imprisonment of a person without warrant or cause, or contrary to law; or the unlawful detaining of a person in custody. -- False keel (Naut.), the timber below the main keel, used to serve both as a protection and to increase the shio's lateral resistance. -- False key, a picklock. -- False leg. (Zoˆl.) See Proleg. -- False membrane (Med.), the fibrinous deposit formed in croup and diphtheria, and resembling in appearance an animal membrane. -- False papers (Naut.), documents carried by a ship giving false representations respecting her cargo, destination, ect., for the purpose of deceiving. -- False passage (Surg.), an unnatural passage leading off from a natural canal, such as the urethra, and produced usually by the unskillful introduction of instruments. -- False personation (Law), the intentional false assumption of the name and personality of another. -- False pretenses (Law), false representations concerning past or present facts and events, for the purpose of defrauding another. -- False rail (Naut.), a thin piece of timber placed on top of the head rail to strengthen it. -- False relation (Mus.), a progression in harmony, in which a certain note in a chord appears in the next chord prefixed by a flat or sharp. -- False return (Law), an untrue return made to a process by the officer to whom it was delivered for execution. -- False ribs (Anat.), the asternal rebs, of which there are five pairs in man. -- False roof (Arch.), the space between the upper ceiling and the roof. Oxford Gloss. -- False token, a false mark or other symbol, used for fraudulent purposes. -- False scorpion (Zoˆl.), any arachnid of the genus Chelifer. See Book scorpion. -- False tack (Naut.), a coming up into the wind and filling away again on the same tack. -- False vampire (Zoˆl.), the Vampyrus spectrum of South America, formerly erroneously supposed to have blood-sucking habits; -- called also vampire, and ghost vampire. The genuine blood-sucking bats belong to the genera Desmodus and Diphylla. See Vampire. -- False window. (Arch.) See False door, above. -- False wing. (Zoˆl.) See Alula, and Bastard wing, under Bastard. -- False works (Civil Engin.), construction works to facilitate the erection of the main work, as scaffolding, bridge centering, etc.

False, adv. Not truly; not honestly; falsely. "You play me false." Shak.

False, v. t. [L. falsare to falsify, fr. falsus: cf. F. fausser. See False, a.] 1. To report falsely; to falsify. [Obs.] Chaucer.

2. To betray; to falsify. [Obs.]

[He] hath his truthe falsed in this wise.

Chaucer.

3. To mislead by want of truth; to deceive. [Obs.]

In his falsed fancy.

Spenser.

4. To feign; to pretend to make. [Obs.] "And falsed oft his blows." Spenser.

False"-faced` (?), a. Hypocritical. Shak.

False"-heart` (?), a. False- hearted. Shak.

False"-heart`ed, a. Hollow or unsound at the core; treacherous; deceitful; perfidious. Bacon. -- False"-heart`ed*ness, n. Bp. Stillingfleet.

False"hood (?), n. [False + - hood] 1. Want of truth or accuracy; an untrue assertion or representation; error; misrepresentation; falsity.

Though it be a lie in the clock, it is but a falsehood in the hand of the dial when pointing at a wrong hour, if rightly following the direction of the wheel which moveth it.

Fuller.

2. A deliberate intentional assertion of what is known to be untrue; a departure from moral integrity; a lie.

3. Treachery; deceit; perfidy; unfaithfulness.

Betrayed by falsehood of his guard.

Shak.

4. A counterfeit; a false appearance; an imposture.

For his molten image is falsehood.

Jer. x. 14.

No falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper.

Milton.

Syn. -- Falsity; lie; untruth; fiction; fabrication. See Falsity.

False"ly (?), adv. In a false manner; erroneously; not truly; perfidiously or treacherously. "O falsely, falsely murdered." Shak.

Oppositions of science, falsely so called.

1 Tim. vi. 20.

Will ye steal, murder . . . and swear falsely ?

Jer. vii. 9.

False"ness, n. The state of being false; contrariety to the fact; inaccuracy; want of integrity or uprightness; double dealing; unfaithfulness; treachery; perfidy; as, the falseness of a report, a drawing, or a singer's notes; the falseness of a man, or of his word.

Fals"er (?), n. A deceiver. [Obs.] Spenser.

Fal*set"to (?), n.; pl. Falsettos (#). [It. falsetto, dim. fr. L. falsus. See False.] A false or artificial voice; that voice in a man which lies above his natural voice; the male counter tenor or alto voice. See Head voice, under Voice.

||Fal"si*cri"men (?). [L.] (Civ. Law) The crime of falsifying.

This term in the Roman law included not only forgery, but every species of fraud and deceit. It never has been used in so extensive a sense in modern common law, in which its predominant significance is forgery, though it also includes perjury and offenses of a like character. Burrill. Greenleaf.

Fal"si*fi`a*ble (?), a. [Cf. OF. falsifiable.] Capable of being falsified, counterfeited, or corrupted. Johnson.

Fal`si*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. falsification.] 1. The act of falsifying, or making false; a counterfeiting; the giving to a thing an appearance of something which it is not.

To counterfeit the living image of king in his person exceedeth all falsifications.

Bacon.

2. Willful misstatement or misrepresentation.

Extreme necessity . . . forced him upon this bold and violent falsification of the doctrine of the alliance.

Bp. Warburton.

3. (Equity) The showing an item of charge in an account to be wrong. Story.

Fal"si*fi*ca`tor (?), n. [Cf. F. falsificateur.] A falsifier. Bp. Morton.

Fal"si*fi`er (?), n. One who falsifies, or gives to a thing a deceptive appearance; a liar.

Fal"si*fy (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Falsified (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Falsifying.] [L. falsus false + -ly: cf. F. falsifier. See False, a.] 1. To make false; to represent falsely.

The Irish bards use to forge and falsify everything as they list, to please or displease any man.

Spenser.

2. To counterfeit; to forge; as, to falsify coin.

3. To prove to be false, or untrustworthy; to confute; to disprove; to nullify; to make to appear false.

By how much better than my word I am, By so much shall I falsify men's hope.

Shak.

Jews and Pagans united all their endeavors, under Julian the apostate, to baffie and falsify the prediction.

Addison.

4. To violate; to break by falsehood; as, to falsify one's faith or word. Sir P. Sidney.

5. To baffle or escape; as, to falsify a blow. Butler.

6. (Law) To avoid or defeat; to prove false, as a judgment. Blackstone.

7. (Equity) To show, in accounting, (an inem of charge inserted in an account) to be wrong. Story. Daniell.

8. To make false by multilation or addition; to tamper with; as, to falsify a record or document.

Fal"si*fy, v. i. To tell lies; to violate the truth.

It is absolutely and universally unlawful to lie and falsify.

South.

Fals"ism (?), n. That which is evidently false; an assertion or statement the falsity of which is plainly apparent; -- opposed to truism.

Fal"si*ty (?), n.;pl. Falsities (#). [L. falsitas: cf. F. faussetÈ, OF. also, falsitÈ. See False, a.] 1. The quality of being false; coutrariety or want of conformity to truth.

Probability does not make any alteration, either in the truth or falsity of things.

South.

2. That which is false; falsehood; a lie; a false assertion.

Men often swallow falsities for truths.

Sir T. Brown.