fell

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Contents

English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English fellen, from Old English fellan, fiellan (“to cause to fall, strike down, fell, cut down, throw down, defeat, destroy, kill, tumble, cause to stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *fallijaną (“to fell, to cause to fall”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pōl- (“to fall”). Cognate with Dutch vellen (“to fell, cut down”), German fällen (“to fell”), Norwegian felle (“to fell”).

Verb [edit]

fell (third-person singular simple present fells, present participle felling, simple past and past participle felled)

  1. (transitive) To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree.
    • Shakespeare
      Stand, or I'll fell thee down.
    • 2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke”, BBC Sport Wales:
      Sinclair opened Swansea's account from the spot on 8 minutes after a Ryan Shawcross tackle had felled Wayne Routledge.
  2. to strike down, kill, destroy
    • 1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars[1], edition HTML, The Gutenberg Project, published 2010:
      Gahan, horrified, saw the latter's head topple from its body, saw the body stagger and fall to the ground. ... The creature that had felled its companion was dashing madly in the direction of the hill upon which he was hidden, it dodged one of the workers that sought to seize it. … Then it was that Gahan's eyes chanced to return to the figure of the creature the fugitive had felled.
    • 2010 September 27, Christina Passariello, “Prodos Capital, Samsung Make Final Cut for Ferré”, Wall Street Journal, accessed on 2012-08-26:
      … could make Ferré the first major fashion label felled by the economic crisis to come out the other end of restructuring.
Translations [edit]
to make something fall

Verb [edit]

fell

  1. Simple past of fall.

Etymology 2 [edit]

Middle English fell (“hide, skin, fell”), from Old English fell (“hide, skin, pelt”), from Proto-Germanic *fellą (compare West Frisian fel, Dutch, vel, German Fell), from Proto-Indo-European *pélno 'skin, animal hide' (compare Latin pellis 'skin', Lithuanian plėnė 'skin', Russian plená 'pelt', Albanian plah 'to cover', Ancient Greek péllas 'skin').

The fell, or stitched down portion of a kilt

Noun [edit]

fell (plural fells)

  1. That portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down
  2. An animal skin, hide
    • Shakespeare
      We are still handling our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy.
  3. (textiles) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.
Translations [edit]
portion of a kilt
animal hide

Verb [edit]

fell (third-person singular simple present fells, present participle felling, simple past and past participle felled)

  1. (sewing) To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
    • 2006, Colette Wolff, The Art of Manipulating Fabric, p. 296
      To fell seam allowances, catch the lining underneath before emerging 1/4" (6mm) ahead, and 1/8" (3mm) to 1/4" (6mm) into the seam allowance.
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Etymology 3 [edit]

From Old Norse fell, fjall (“rock, mountain”), from Proto-Germanic *felzą, *fel(e)zaz, *falisaz (compare German Felsen 'boulder, cliff', Middle Low German vels 'hill, mountain'), from Proto-Indo-European *pelso (compare Irish aile 'boulder, cliff', Latin Palatium, Ancient Greek palléa, pélla 'stone', Pashto parša 'id.', Sanskrit pāşāņá 'id.')

Noun [edit]

fell (plural fells)

  1. (archaic, except, UK) A rocky ridge or chain of mountains.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of T. Gray to this entry?)
    • 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
      The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
      While hammers fell like ringing bells,
      In places deep, where dark things sleep,
      In hollow halls beneath the fells.
  2. (archaic, except, UK) A wild field or upland moor
Translations [edit]
rocky ridge
wild field or upland moor

Etymology 4 [edit]

From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”), from Proto-Indo-European *pol- (“to pour, flow, swim, fly”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Old Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”), Middle High German vālant (“imp”). See felon.

Adjective [edit]

fell (comparative feller, superlative fellest)

  1. Of a strong and cruel nature; eagre and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage.
    one fell swoop
    • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2
      And many a serpent of fell kind, / With wings before, and stings behind
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XIX:
      No words had been exchanged between Upjohn and self on the journey out, but the glimpses I had caught of his face from the corner of the eyes had told me that he was grim and resolute, his supply of the milk of human kindness plainly short by several gallons. No hope, it seemed to me, of turning him from his fell purpose.
  2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent; clever.

Adverb [edit]

fell (comparative more fell, superlative most fell)

  1. Sharply; fiercely.
Derived terms [edit]

Statistics [edit]

Albanian [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Indo-European *pels 'deep, shallow', variant of *spel-. Compare hydronym Pelso (Latin authors referred to modern Lake Balaton as "lacus Pelso"). Cognate to Greek σπήλαιο (spḗlaio) ‘cave, cavern’. Mostly dialectal, used in Gheg Albanian.

Adverb [edit]

fell

  1. deep, shallow
Related terms [edit]

Icelandic [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Old Norse

Noun [edit]

fell n

  1. hill

Old English [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Proto-Germanic *fellą, whence also Old High German vel

Noun [edit]

fell n

  1. fell
  2. skin
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