fell
pronunciation
How to pronounce fell in British English:
UK [fel]
How to pronounce fell in American English:
US [fel]
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- Noun:
- the dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal)
- seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges
- the act of felling something (as a tree)
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- Verb:
- cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
- pass away rapidly
- sew a seam by folding the edges
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- Adjective:
- (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
Word Origin
- fell
- fell: English has no fewer than four separate words fell, not counting the past tense of fall. Fell ‘cut down’ [OE] originated as the ‘causative’ version of fall – that is to say, it means literally ‘cause to fall’. It comes ultimately from prehistoric Germanic *falljan, causative of *fallan ‘fall’. Fell ‘animal’s skin’ [OE] goes back via Germanic *fellam (source also of English film) to Indo-European *pello- (whence Latin pellis ‘skin’, from which English gets pellagra [19], pellicle [16], and pelt ‘skin’ [15]). Fell ‘hill’ [13] was borrowed from Old Norse fjall ‘hill’; this seems to be related to German fels ‘rock’, whose ultimate ancestor was Indo-European *pels-.And the adjective fell ‘fierce, lethal’ [13] was borrowed from Old French fel, ancestor of English felon.=> fall; film, pelt; felon
- fell (v.1)
- Old English fællan (Mercian), fyllan (West Saxon) "make fall, cause to fall," also "strike down, demolish, kill," from Proto-Germanic *falljan "strike down, cause to fall" (cognates: Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fellian, Dutch fellen, Old High German fellen, German fällen, Old Norse fella, Danish fælde), causative of *fallan (source of Old English feallan; see fall (v.)), showing i-mutation. Related: Felled; feller; felling.
- fell (adj.)
- "cruel," late 13c., possibly late Old English, perhaps from Old French fel "cruel, fierce, vicious," from Medieval Latin fello "villain" (see felon). Phrase at one fell swoop is from "Macbeth." Related: Fellness.
- fell (n.1)
- "rocky hill," c. 1300, from Old Norse fiall "mountain," from Proto-Germanic *felzam- "rock" (cognates: Old High German felisa, German Fels "stone, rock"), from PIE root *pel(i)s- "rock, cliff." Old High German felisa "a rock" is the source of French falaise (formerly falize) "cliff." Now mostly in place-names, such as Scafell Pike, highest mountain in England.
- fell (v.2)
- past tense of fall (v.), Old English feoll.
- fell (n.2)
- "skin or hide of an animal," Old English fel "skin, hide, garment of skin," from Proto-Germanic *felnam- (cognates: Old Frisian fel, Old Saxon fel, Dutch vel, Old High German fel, German fell, Old Norse fiall, Gothic fill "skin, hide"), from PIE *pel-no-, suffixed form of root *pel- (4) "skin, hide" (see film (n.)). Related: Fellmonger.
Example
- 1. I took some shots and fell from time to time
- 2. The proportion fell as more land was cleared for agriculture .
- 3. Franklin : little strokes fell great oaks .
- 4. In the kyoto protocol of 1997 , forests were a big absentee : that was partly because sovereignty-conscious nations like brazil were unwilling , at any price , to accept limits on their freedom to fell .
- 5. While the car passed by a river two soldier pushed him down . He fell into the river and was wet through . However the cotton paper is kept completely all the way . He couldn 't remember now and had no idea about this .