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Fall

Specialty Definition: Fall

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Specialty Definition: Autumn

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Autumn (still called Fall in American English; in England that usage was once standard, but has now become archaic) is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition between summer and winter. In the temperate zones, autumn is the season during which most crops are harvested, and deciduous trees lose their leaves. Astronomically, it begins with the autumnal equinox (around 23 September in the Northern hemisphere, and 21 March in the southern hemisphere), and ends with the winter solstice (around 21 December in the Northern hemisphere and 21 June in the Southern hemisphere). However, meteorologists count instead the whole months of March, April and May in the Southern hemisphere and September, October and November in the Northern hemisphere.

Either definition, as with those of the seasons generally, is flawed because it assumes that the seasons are all of the same length, and begin and end at the same time throughout the temperate zone of each hemisphere.

See also: axial tilt

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Autumn."

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Fall

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Fall has several meanings:

• Fall is the more common North American word for the season usually known as autumn in British English.

• A freefall or other downward movement, often followed by a collision with the ground, due to gathering speed by weight. It is the result of dropping something, jumping, or an accident in which a person or object is no longer supported, e.g something rolls or slides off a table, one loses control over one's legs or bicycle, etc.

• A shortened form of the word waterfall, more typically "falls" than just "fall" (such as "we're hiking up to the falls today"). These often occur around the fall line, where the piedmont drops to the coastal plain.

• A fall is the sudden arrival of large numbers of migrating birds on an island or at a coastal headland due to drift migration.

• The Fall is the Christian doctrine of man's rebellion against his creator God, bringing God's condemnation on himself, as described in the story of Adam and Eve.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Fall."

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Fall of Constantinople

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Fall of Constantinople was the conquest of that Greek city by the Turks under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, on Tuesday, May 29, 1453. The Turks later changed the name of the formerly Greek city to Istanbul.

Before the siege of the city began, the Ottomans were at peace with the Byzantine Empire. The Empire by this time consisted only of the city of Constantinople itself, the rest having been gradually conquered in the previous decades and centuries. In the over 1000 years of the existence of the Empire, Constantinople had been besieged many times, but had been taken only once, during the Fourth Crusade. However, no enemy of Byzantium had ever specifically set out to conquer the Empire and actually succeeded in doing so. Mehmed planned on being the first.

Mehmed had a castle built outside the walls of Constantinople on the European side of the Bosporus, which would act as a base for the final assault on the city (this castle was called Rumeli Hisar, the "castle of Rome"). Meanwhile, Byzantine emperor Constantine XI tried to buy him off with gifts, but when Mehmed beheaded two of his ambassadors, Constantine finally began to prepare for war.

Constantine appealed to Western Europe for help, but Pope Nicholas V was unwilling to support the Empire after the failed Council of Basel. Some Venetians and Genoans did arrive, however. The Byzantine army itself totalled about 7000 men, 2000 of whom were foreign mercenaries. The city also had fourteen miles of walls, probably the strongest set of fortified walls in existence at the time. The Ottomans, on the other hand, had a much larger force, numbering around 100 000, including 20 000 Janissaries. Mehmed also built a fleet to besiege the city from the sea.

The Ottomans employed a Hungarian engineer called Urban who was a specialist in the construction of cannon, which were still almost new weapons. He built an enormous cannon, twenty-six feet (7.9 m) in length and eight inches (20 cm) in diameter, which could fire a 1200-pound (544 kg) ball as far as one mile. Although the Byzantines also had cannon, they were much smaller and their recoil tended to damage their own walls. Urban's monster cannon had several drawbacks, however. It could hardly hit anything, not even as large as Constantinople; it took three hours to reload; the cannon balls were in very short supply; and the cannon collapsed under its own recoil after six weeks.

Mehmed planned to attack the land walls from the west, the only part of the city not surrounded by water. His army encamped outside the city on Easter Monday, April 2, 1453. For seven weeks Mehmed's massive cannon fired on the walls, but it was unable to sufficiently penetrate them, and due to its extremely slow rate of reloading the Byzantines were able to repair most of the damage after each shot. Meanwhile, Mehmed's fleet could not enter the Golden Horn due to the large chain the Byzantines had laid across the entrance. To circumvent this he built a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn, and rolled his ships across. This succeeded in stopping the flow of supplies from Genoan ships and demoralizing the Byzantine defenders, but did not help in breaching the land walls.

Mehmed offered to raise the siege for an astronomical tribute that he knew the city would be unable to pay. When this was declined, Mehmed planned to overpower the walls by sheer force, knowing that the Byzantine defenders would be worn out before he ran out of troops. On the morning of May 29 the attack began. The first wave of attackers, the bashi-bazouks, were poorly trained and equipped, and were meant only to kill as many Byzantine defenders as possible. The second assault focused on a section of the Blachernae walls in the northwest part of the city, which had been partially damaged by the cannon; the attackers managed to break through, but were just as quickly pushed back out by the Byzantines. The Byzantines also managed to hold off an attack by the Janisseries, but the Genoan general in charge of the defense, Giovanni Giustiniani, was wounded in the attack, and the Greek troops began to panic.

Unfortunately, the Kerkoporta gate in the Blachernae section had been left unlocked, and the Ottomans soon discovered this mistake. The Ottomans rushed in, and Constantine XI himself led the last defense of the city, dying in the ensuing battle in the streets.

The city was looted for three days, in accordance with the traditional punishment allotted on a city that had resisted a siege, but Mehmed restrained his troops out of respect for the ancient but now conquered empire. Mehmed was nicknamed "the Conqueror," and Constantinople, renamed Istanbul, became the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Hagia Sophia was converted in a mosque, although the Greek Orthodox Church remained intact, and Gennadius Scholarius was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople. The last Byzantine state, the Empire of Trebizond, held out until 1461.

Many Greeks fled and found refuge in Italy, where they helped launch the Renaissance; those who stayed were mostly confined to the Phanar and Galata districts. The Phanariots, as they were called, often provided capable advisors to the Ottoman sultans, and were just as often seen as traitors by other Greeks.

Some scholars consider that the Middle Ages ended at the time of the Fall of Constantinople.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Fall of Constantinople."

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Original sin

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Original sin in the Old Testament

Many Christian theologians regard the Garden of Eden story in Genesis as describing the first sin, and the consequent "ruin" or, the "Fall" of man. The doctrine of original sin attempts to explain how that sin affects humanity today.

Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of God, "Of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Genesis 2:17). Eve was tempted by a serpent to eat the fruit of the tree ("you will not die, you will be just like God"). After she did, she convinced Adam to eat of it as well. Adam and Eve then made aprons of fig leaves to cover their lower parts. In some traditions, the covering of the lower parts means they became aware of their nudity for the first time, and hid from each other in shame. After this God expelled them from the Garden of Eden.

According to many Jewish and Christian interpretations of this story, the consequence of this action was to both make man mortal, and also aware of the consequences of his/her actions (i.e. humanity gained free will). Other interpretations exist as well. In the Unification Church, the original sin was an act of adultery. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, this was an exercise of a free will that already existed, which also made man mortal. In Calvinism, Man has freely chosen his own ruin, by neglecting the gifts he was given by means of which he would have remained in close communion with God (which is life), by failing to trust in the faithfulness of God, and exchanged all that belonged to him and his posterity for an equality with God that can never be his.

Some Christian interpretors include the judgments of God in Genesis 3, in their explanation of the hopelessness into which creation had been brought through Adam's disobedience. Others view these judgments as the beginning of the history of the redemption from sin. It is of particular concern to these latter interpreters to emphasize that the serpent is cursed, as is the ground on account of man, but the woman and the man are given promises and blessings which however mixed with mystery and misery because of sin, and however limited by the tyranny of death, are the basis of hope and of justice in the earth.

As soon as one starts living, he/she also starts dying. The concept of Original Sin stipulates that Human Life is essentially self-destructive due to the sin it inherits from the first couple. It is because of this sin that Life also embodies Death and Eternal Life is impossible until Life grows out of the sin it embodies.

Original sin in The New Testament

The concept of original sin underwent development by Paul, in Romans and First Corinthians, in the New Testament. Paul placed special emphasis on this by stressing that belief in Jesus would allow Christians to overcome death, by earning salvation in the hereafter. The New Testament teaches that rejection of Jesus as the path to salvation must be viewed as willful disobedience, and a rebellion against God. This choice then compels a just God to enforce that person's separation from Him, causing such a person to be sentenced to Hell. Only belief in Jesus, as a savior and son of God, could rescue a person from this fate.

Although the character Satan does not appear as such in the Biblical text, by the time that the New Testament was canonized, the serpent mentioned in Genesis became identified with Satan; this identification is so strong that many believers interpret the Biblical story as Eve being tempted by Satan.

Augustine's modern Western formulation of original sin

Under Augustine of Hippo the common and modern-day Western understanding of Original sin was formulated; he taught that the taint of Adam's original sin was inherited by all people at birth, and that nothing a person does in their life can get rid of this taint. This doctrine took on special prominence in Catholic Christianity and in many Protestant Christian denominations.

In most branches of Christianity, the doctrine of Original sin states that all humans have inherited the guilt of sin from Adam and Eve; this state of sin exists in all people from the moment of their conception. According to this doctrine, all people are born sinners and die sinners; all people are 'lost' eternally, and are in need of Divine salvation. The only way people can be justified in God's eyes and reconciled with God is by humbly asking for forgiveness, believing that His son Jesus Christ, through his death and crucifixion, took on himself the due punishment for our sins and trespasses (atonement), and depending upon God's grace to perfect their faith in God by increasing their love for God, which fulfills obedience. The ultimate punishment for the original sin was expulsion from the presence of God and subjection to physical and spiritual death; the ultimate goal and blessing of reconciliation is the restoration of the original relationship man had with God; this includes eternal life. This idea of inherited guilt is not always followed with literal strictness. Various traditions in the West diverge from one another in terms of what, exactly, is meant by inherited guilt. Most agree that mankind after the fall has inherited the circumstances of ruin, misery, futility, and inability to repair his condition; but they may disagree concerning the sense, or the extent to which man's nature itself is "ruined". Some hold to a doctrine called total depravity; others are repulsed by this term and the doctrine associated with it. The debate also raises the question of whether Jesus Himself had Original Sin. Some theologists hold that Original Sin is passed to offspring through the father, making the son of God the Father free of Original Sin. Roman Catholic dogma says that Mary was conceived innocent of original sin; that is the Catholic dogma of immaculate conception, a term often misunderstood as referring to virgin birth.

Christians have different views on the way to receive salvation from original sin. On one end of the spectrum are those such as Calvinistss who believe that each particular person who puts faith in Christ is predestined from the foundation of the world to live in the light of God's love, but those who do not trust in Christ will remain in darkness and the guilt of sin. On the other end are those such as universalistss that believe that every person ever born will ultimately be justified, restored and saved. Between those two poles are those that emphasize man's ability to choose life with God or separation from God; people remain dependent on God's grace and mercy, but also have a part to play in achieving their own salvation.

Original Sin as understood by Orthodox Christianity

Augustine wrote in Latin in the fourth century, but his writings were not translated into Greek until the fourteenth century. Consequently, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christianity never held that guilt is inherited, and began repudiating this idea once they learned of it. They teach that we inherit a corrupted or damaged human nature in which the tendency to do bad is greater, but that each person is only guilty of their own sins. By participating in the life of the church, each person's human nature is healed and it becomes easier to do good; at the same time, the Christian becomes more acutely aware of his or her shortcomings. Eastern Orthodox theologians believe that Adam and Eve began to choose separation from God when they chose independence and took fruit for themselves, rather than allow God to continue to feed them and remain dependent on Him. The expulsion from the Garden was not a legal consequence, but to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life and immortalizing their sin. As Christians partake of the Eucharist and eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ, they return to dependence on God and experience a gradual healing of the relationship between God and humanity. The ultimate goal is theosis (or, divinization), an even closer union with God and closer likeness to God than existed in the Garden of Eden.

Original Sin as understood by the Unification Church

Genesis 2:17 is a key Bible verse for discussions about the fall of man.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (KJV)

Even though Adam and Eve are described as eating the fruit, they did not "die" immediately (in the physical sense). According to the Unification Church interpretation, they "died" in a spiritual sense: their relationship with God was cut off.

According to Unification Theology, Adam and Eve sinned by having a sexual relationship before they had reached perfection. The "fruit of knowledge" was a symbol of Eve's sexual love, which could be either good (if centered on God) or evil (if not). Eve was initially tempted into sin by the Archangel Lucifer, who seduced her. The reason Adam and Eve hid their "lower parts" after the Original Sin is similar to the reason a child having swiped cookies might hide their hands ("I have concealed by transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom." -- Job 31:33)

See also:

• Pandora's box
• Total depravity
• Fall of man (Unification Church)

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Original sin."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Fall

Personification of Autumn (Currier & Ives Lithograph, 1871)

Autumn colours at Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, England Larger version

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
FALLEX	English	Fall exercise	N/A
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms: Fall Synonyms: autumn (n), capitulation (n), declension (n), decline (n), declivity (n), descent (n), downfall (n), downslope (n), drop (n), dusk (n), evenfall (n), free fall (n), gloaming (n), nightfall (n), pin (n), spill (n), surrender (n), tumble (n), twilight (n), accrue (v), come (v), come down (v), decrease (v), descend (v), devolve (v), diminish (v), fall down (v), flow (v), go down (v), hang (v), lessen (v), light (v), pass (v), precipitate (v), return (v), settle (v), shine (v), strike (v). (additional references)

Synonyms by domain: drop-ins (building & civil engineering).

Antonyms: ascent (n), ascend (v), increase (v), rise (v). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Fall

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Adversity	Go downhill, go to rack and ruin; (destruction), go to the dogs; fall, fall from one's high estate; decay, sink, decline, go down in the world; have seen better days; bring down one's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave; come to grief; be all over, be up with; bring a wasp's nest about one's ears, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears.
Death	Noun: death; decease, demise; dissolution, departure, obit, release, rest, quietus, fall; loss, bereavement; mortality, morbidity.
Descent	Verb: descend; go down, drop down, come down; fall, gravitate, drop, slip, slide, rappel, settle; plunge, plummet, crash; decline, set, sink, droop, come down a peg; slump.
	Noun: descent, descension, declension, declination; fall; falling; Verb:: slump; drop, plunge, plummet, cadence; subsidence, collapse, lapse; downfall, tumble, slip, tilt, trip, lurch; cropper, culbute; stumble; fate of Icarus.
Evening	Autumn; fall, fall of the leaf; autumnal equinox; Indian summer, St. Luke's summer, St. Martin's summer.
Eventuality	Verb: happen, occur; take place, take effect; come, become of; come off, comeabout, come round, come into existence, come forth, come to pass, come on; pass, present itself; fall; fall out, turn out; run, be on foot, fall in; befall, betide, bechance; prove, eventuate, draw on; turn up, crop up, spring up, pop up, arise, show up, show its face, appear, come forth, cast up; supervene, survene; issue, arrive, ensue, arise, start, hold, take its course; pass off; (be past).
Failure	Limp, halt, hobble, fall, tumble; lose one's balance; fall to the ground, fall between two stools; flounder, falter, stick in the mud, run aground, split upon a rock; beat one's head against a stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall; break one's back; break down, sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under one; get into trouble, get into a mess, get into a scrape; come to grief; (adversity); go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot; lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated; have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb; (submit); not have a leg to stand on.
Obliquity	Acclivity, rise, ascent, gradient, khudd, rising ground, hill, bank, declivity, downhill, dip, fall, devexity; gentle slope, rapid slope, easy ascent, easy descent; shelving beach; talus; monagne Russe; facilis descensus averni.
Regression	Counter motion, retrograde motion, backward movement, motion in reverse, counter movement, counter march; veering, tergiversation, recidivation, backsliding, fall; deterioration; recidivism, recidivity.
Vice	Verb: be vicious; Adjective: sin, commit sin, do amiss, err, transgress; misdemean oneself, forget oneself, misconduct oneself; misdo, misbehave; fall, lapse, slip, trip, offend, trespass; deviate from the line of duty, deviate from the path of virtue; take a wrong course, go astray; hug a sin, hug a fault; sow one's wild oats.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Fall

English words defined with "fall": fall apart, fall back, fall behind, fall for, fall in, fall off, fall over ♦ To fall aboard of, To fall away, To fall down, To fall foul, To fall from, To fall in, To fall in with, To fall into one's hands, To fall on, To fall over, To fall under, To fall upon. (references)

Specialty definitions using "fall": cascade fall ♦ Fair fall you, fall drop in series, fall forward, Fall into a Snare, Fall of the Drop, Fall Out of, Fall Sick, fall thru, Fall to, full fall in series ♦ inglis type fall ♦ Montague fall, Montague type fall ♦ Poona type fall ♦ Ride for a Fall, rise and fall ♦ stepped fall ♦ to sell for a fall, to speculate for a fall. (references)

Etymologies containing "fall": trypsin. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Fall" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (augury, fortune telling), Faeroese (affair, case, fall, matter), German (affair, case, chance, downfall, drop, event, eventuality, failure, fall, halyard, instance, matter, occurence, opportunity, tumble), Norwegian (fall), Swedish (affair, backfall, case, cases, collapse, descent, downfall, drape, drop, event, fall, fiasco, halliard, halyard, hang, instance, matter, overthrow, set, slope, spill, tumble, undoing, waterfall, wreck).

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Modern Usage: Fall

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Nothing in it. The kind of a face I could fall into (On the Town; writing credit: Adolph Green and Betty Comden) The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that manthat I loved would be the one. So you see, you can't be dead (The Matrix; writing credit: Andy Wachowski; Larry Wachowski) Just because you're a big movie star, wild parties, swimming pools, you expect every girl to fall in a dead faint at your feet (Singin' in the Rain; writing credit: Betty Comden; Adolph Green) Cities fall but they are rebuilt (Deep Impact; writing credit: Bruce Joel Rubin; Michael Tolkin) Come on lads, let's get home, the sky's beginning to bruise, night must fall and we shall be forced to camp (Withnail and I; writing credit: Bruce Robinson.)
Lyrics	Why does the rain fall from up above (Why Do Fools Fall In Love; performing artist: Diana Ross) God knows even angels fall (Even Angels Fall; performing artist: Jessica Riddle) I fall to pieces ("I Fall to Pieces"; performing artist: Patsy Cline) But I could fall in love, (I Could Fall in Love; performing artist: Selena) I'm never gonna fall in love again (I'll Never Fall In Love Again; performing artist: Tom Jones)
Clever	Pride will have a fall. (references; author: English Proverb) Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled. (references; author: unknown) If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. (references; author: unknown) Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off. (references; author: unknown) Be bold in what you stand for and careful what you fall for. (references; author: unknown)
Movie/TV Titles	After the Fall (1974) A Fall of Eagles (1974) Der Jäger von Fall (1974) The Rise & Fall of Ricky Shuter (1973) Rise and Fall of the World as Seen from a Sexual Position (1972)
Song Titles	Fall Awake (performing artist: Stuart Davis) Don't Wanna Fall In Love (performing artist: Jane Child) Even Angels Fall (performing artist: Jessica Riddle) Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer (performing artist: Kenny Rogers & Kim Carnes) WHEN I FALL IN LOVE  (performing artist: Lettermen )
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Fall

Domain	Title
References	Fall River Gas Company: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) (more reference examples)
Books	Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism (reference) The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR (reference) The Cartoon History of the Universe II: From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome/Volumes 8-13 (reference) The Chronicles of Pern: 1st Fall (The Dragonriders of Pern) (reference) The Rise and Fall of Abacus Banking in Japan and China: (reference) (more book examples)
Periodicals	Fall Residence (reference) Fall River Herald News (reference) Proceedings Of The Annual Air Traffic Control Association Fall Conference (reference) (more periodical examples)
Theater & Movies	Legends of the Fall - Special Edition (reference) Legends of the Fall (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)
Music	Ever Fall in Love (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
High Tech	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Footclan (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Consumer Goods	Qual-Craft 5000Q Fall Arrest Kit (S -M) (reference) Qual-Craft 5010Q Fall Arrest Kit (L - XL) (reference) Tracy Porter Fall Bud Vases (Set of 3) (reference) (more baby examples; more wireless phone examples; more garden examples; more kitchen examples; more tool examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Fall

Photos: Fall More pictures...

Illustrations: Fall More pictures...

Computer Images: Fall More pictures...

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Photo Album: Fall

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	The scabs will eventually fall off leaving marks on the skin that will become pitted scars. The patient is contagious to others until all of the scabs have fallen off. Credit: CDC.		The smallpox lesions, or pustules, will eventually form scabs that will fall off leaving marks on the skin. The patient is contagious to others until all of the scabs have fallen off. Credit: CDC.
	Fall Foliage from Space. Credit: NASA.		Water fall on big island of Hawaii. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.
	A bad fall on the way to Station Gallatin Idaho-Montana 1922 Triangulation party of William M. Scaife. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.		Taku Glacier after fall snows. Credit: America's Coastlines.
	A Northern Water Snake basking along the river bank in early fall. Credit: America's Coastlines.		Sunset over the station in the austral fall of 1997. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.
	The last plane at South Pole Station before the fall sunset. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.		The Mediterranean and Black Seas fall within the same FAO statistical area (Area 37) but, apart from some migratory species, their fisheries and resources are mostly separate. The total catch from Area 37 showed a generally positive trend until the mid-1980's, reaching about 2 million tons. Credit: Fisheries.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Fall
 

"Fall leaves" by David Daugherty Commentary: "Beautiful gum tree during Autumn in Dallas, Texas 2003 ."	"Little prince of Fall" by Corinne Vooys Commentary: "Autumn adventures."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "Fall".

Play	Caption
	Bowling ball hitting the pins, some fall over gently.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Fall

Author	Quotation
Confucius	To go beyond is as bad as to fall short.
Earl and Mansfield	Let justice be done, though the heavens fall!
George Pope Morris	United we stand, divided we fall.
Lucretius	The fall of dropping water wears away the Stone.
Mencius	He who soars not, suffers not by a fall.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus	If we must fall, we should boldly meet the danger.
Smollett	Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall.
William Shakespeare	Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
	And where the offence is, let the great axe fall.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Historic Usage: Fall

Author	Date	Quotation
Magna Carta	1215	If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained in the bond. (reference)
John Locke	1690	But this reaching but to the things of their common interest and property, leaves the wife in the full and free possession of what by contract is her peculiar right, and gives the husband no more power over her life than she has over his; the power of the husband being so far from that of an absolute monarch, that the wife has in many cases a liberty to separate from him, where natural right, or their contract allows it; whether that contract be made by themselves in the state of nature, or by the customs or laws of the country they live in; and the children upon such separation fall to the father or mother's lot, as such contract does determine. (Second Treatise of Government)
US Declaration of Independence	1776	He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. (reference)
Communist Manifesto	1848	Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable. (reference)
Treaty of Versailles	1919	Where by decision of the Clearing Offices or the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal a claim is held not to fall within Article 296, the creditor shall be at liberty to prosecute the claim before the Courts or to take such other proceedings as may be open to him. (reference)
Winston S. Churchill	1946	If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. ("Iron Curtain" Speech)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.	1963	When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. (Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1958)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Fall

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	Do not let any reflection fall on the principles or the care of the friends who brought me up.
Alice in Wonderland	Carroll, Lewis	So they had to fall a long way.
Scarlet Letter	Hawthorne, Nathaniel	I shuddered, and involuntarily let it fall upon the floor
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	When he descended from the scaffold, something in his look made the people fall back
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	Weakness and timidity and inexperience would fall from him in that magic moment
King Richard III	Shakespeare, William	Come, shall we fall to work
Grapes of Wrath	Steinbeck, John	Once over the line maybe you can pick cotton in the fall.
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	That I could not walk with any security, for if either of my hind feet slipped, I must inevitably fall.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	This same summer the pond has begun to fall again
Julius Caesar	William Shakespeare	Then fall, Caesar
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Fall

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		These fall into three broad categories. (references)
		HPIV-2 causes annual or biennial fall outbreaks. (references)
		Head lice do not live long if they fall off a person. (references)
Business		Many Mexican companies fall into this category. (references)
		IPPs and SPPs still fall under EGAT’s regulatory supervision. (references)
		The company may still, however, fall under the block exemption. (references)
Civil Liberties	Jordan	Conversely, converts to Islam fall under the jurisdiction of the Shari'a courts. (references)
	Qatar	All cases involving the media fall under the jurisdiction of the criminal courts. (references)
	Albania	The total daily circulation of all newspapers was estimated at 50,000 in 2000, but during the year continued to fall. (references)
Economic History	Ireland	Profits look certain to fall. (references)
	Uganda	Relations improved after Amin's fall. (references)
	Ireland	An announcement is due by the Fall 2001. (references)
Human Rights	Mozambique	Persons 16 years old and younger fall under the jurisdiction of a court system for minors. (references)
	Afghanistan	The Taliban's rapid fall from power averted a much-feared large-scale humanitarian disaster. (references)
	Uzbekistan	Reform legislation passed in August and implemented in the fall aims to reduce the power of prosecutors. (references)
Indigenous People	Sweden	Sami issues fall under the Ministry of Agriculture. (references)
	Mexico	The ICRC announced that it would likely reduce food assistance after assessing results of the fall harvest. (references)
Minorities	Romania	The Bucharest Mayor's office replied that job announcements did not fall under the law on publicity, which forbids discriminatory publicity. (references)
Political Economy	Congo	Production and incomes continued to fall. (references)
	Guatemala	Portillo's ratings continued to fall over the next year. (references)
	Brazil	Police forces fall primarily under the control of the states. (references)
Political Rights	Iran	Elections were held in the fall of 1998 for the 86-member Assembly of Experts. (references)
	Ecuador	Presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for the fall of 2002. Deputies are elected to Congress for 4-year terms. (references)
	Egypt	In addition to the appointments, 7 women and 3 Christians were elected in the fall of 2000, but one (Rami Lakah) lost his seat in September in a court case. (references)
Trade	Austria	Alcoholic beverages fall into the 20% VAT category. (references)
	Ukraine	Ukraine became a member of the IFC in the fall of 1993. (references)
	India	Foreign companies operating in India fall under the purview of FEMA. (references)
Travel	Egypt	Facilities outside of Cairo fall short of U.S. standards. (references)
	Ecuador	However, Quito has not experienced a significant ash fall since December of 1999. (references)
	Trinidad	In 2002 they will fall on Monday, February 11 and Tuesday, February 12, respectively. (references)
Women	Jordan	Defenses in such cases fall under Article 98 of the Penal Code. (references)
	Liechtenstein	Every year in the spring, the Government adopts an action plan to promote equal opportunity for both women and men, and each fall the Government's Bureau for the Promotion of Equal Rights for Women and Men publishes a progress report. (references)
	Korea	The Government established some shelters for battered women and increased the number of child care facilities, giving women in abusive situations more options, but women's rights groups say that they fall far short of effectively dealing with the problem. (references)
Worker Rights	Portugal	The key enforcement mechanisms of labor laws fall to labor inspectors. (references)
	Romania	NGO's believe that many girls from these orphanages fall victim to trafficking networks. (references)
	Mongolia	Some members of the military forces in rural areas are required to help with the fall harvest. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	DECIDE, v.i. To succumb to the preponderance of one set of influences over another set. A leaf was riven from a tree, "I mean to fall to earth," said he. The west wind, rising, made him veer. "Eastward," said he, "I now shall steer." The east wind rose with greater force. Said he: "'Twere wise to change my course." With equal power they contend. He said: "My judgment I suspend." Down died the winds; the leaf, elate, Cried: "I've decided to fall straight." "First thoughts are best?" That's not the moral; Just choose your own and we'll not quarrel. Howe'er your choice may chance to fall, You'll have no hand in it at all. G.J.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Fall

Speaker	Phrase(s)
James Dobson	That is a very difficult concept to explain or understand. But theologically, it goes back to the fall and back to the introduction of sin into the world. And the bad chips that happen in the world can be traced back to that.
Michael Oxley	Mike Castle's a great guy and former governor, and he could be right, unless we fall down on the job of correcting the situation, but we're not going to fall down on the job.
Rush Limbaugh	A lot of people did not fall away from the issue on the campaign trail, including Elizabeth Dole, Jim Talent, Norm Coleman, and Saxby Chambliss.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Speeches: Fall

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
John Quincy Adams	1825-1829	That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that received in the one now expiring there are indications which can scarcely prove deceptive.
Andrew Jackson	1829-1837	My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my readiness to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me.
Richard Nixon	1969-1974	The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.
Gerald Ford	1974-1977	Great attention has been paid to the considerations of fairness, and I can assure you that the burdens will not fall more harshly on those less able to bear them.
Jimmy Carter	1977-1981	As the economy continues to gain strength and as our unemployment rates continue to fall, revenues will grow.
Ronald Reagan	1981-1989	I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.
George Bush	1989-1993	Let me add that Private Markwell was among the first to see battle in Panama, and among the first to fall.
Bill Clinton	1993-2001	Now, we have all seen what happens when guns fall into the wrong hands.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Fall

"Fall" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 48.16% of the time. "Fall" is used about 9,679 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	48.16%	4,661	2,106
Noun (singular)	37.18%	3,598	2,702
Lexical Verb (base form)	14.57%	1,411	5,700
Noun (proper)	0.08%	8	124,375
Total	100.00%	9,679	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Name Usage Frequency: Fall

The following table summarizes the usage of "fall" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified.

Name	Usage/Gender	Usage per 100 million Persons	Rank in USA
Fall	Last name	1,000	8,301
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Usage in Company Names: Fall