fall upon

English

Verb

fall upon

1. to experience; to suffer.

   With the rise of the Internet, some media fell upon hard times.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

2. to occur at some particular point in time.
   • 1925, Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor, chapter 1, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms:

     It fell upon the day of full moon of the fourth month, the second year, in the era of Established Calm (AD 168), that Emperor Ling went in state to the Hall of Virtue.

3. to set upon; to attack suddenly
   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 1-3

     If the Duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then all the dukes fall upon the king.