fallとは

意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received 発音) enPR: fôl, IPA^(key): /fɔːl/
• (General American) enPR: fôl, IPA^(key): /fɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: fäl, IPA^(key): /fɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl

動詞

fall (third-person singular simple present falls, present participle falling, simple past fell or (in archaic sense only) felled, past participle fallen or (in archaic sense only) felled)

A sign warning about the danger of falling rocks.

1. (heading, intransitive) To be moved downwards.
   1. To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

      Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.

      • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860, page 0091:

        There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

   2. To come down, to drop or descend.

      The rain fell at dawn.

      • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond, Ch.1:

        Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.

   3. To come as if by dropping down.
      • 1898, William Le Queux, Whoso Findeth a Wife, page 256:

        Once or twice a noise fell upon his quick ear, and we halted, he standing revolver in hand in an attitude of defense. Each time, however, we ascertained that we had no occasion for alarm, the noise being made by some animal or bird  ...

      • 1904, Bram Stoker, The Jewel of Seven Stars, page 248:

        And then a sudden calm fell on us like a cloud of fear. There! on the table, lay the Jewel of Seven Stars, shining and sparkling with lurid light, as though each of the seven points of each of the seven stars gleamed through blood!

      • 1971, Henry Raup Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:

        Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N […] dark clouds closing in over everything. At 3 in the afternoon the breeze came up from the S with a thick drizzle. Thus night fell, and thus we passed the rest of it.

      • 1981, Dan Kirby, Schreiber's Choice, Ace Books (→ISBN)

        The horse wrangler, a tall, bronzed-face man, waved to the wagon driver. The driver laughed. […] The canvas cover rolled up suddenly and a terrible noise fell over the desert.

   4. To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.

      He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.

   5. To be brought to the ground.
2. (transitive) To move downwards.
   1. (obsolete) To let fall; to drop.
      • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lvcrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664:

        For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.

   2. (obsolete) To sink; to depress.

      to fall the voice

   3. (Britain, US, dialect, archaic) To fell; to cut down.

      to fall a tree

3. (intransitive) To change, often negatively.
   1. (copulative, in idiomatic expressions) To become.

      She has fallen ill.

      The children fell asleep in the back of the car.

      When did you first fall in love?

      fall silent, fall sick, fall pregnant, fall victim to something

      • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, OCLC 83401042, book the first (Poverty), page 27:

        At length they stood at the corner from which they had begun, and it had fallen quite dark, and they were no wiser.

      • 1971, Henry Raup Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca:

        Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N and then it fell calm, […]

   2. (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.

      Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.

   3. (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle or by disease.

      This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.

   4. (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).

      The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.

      • 1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued

        The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.

      • 1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Vol.1, pp.284-5:

        Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.

      • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

        Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.

5. To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, または similar); to happen.

   Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.  Last year, Commencement fell on June 3.

   • 1978, Dwight David Eisenhower, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, Letters to Mamie, Doubleday Books:

     (Thus D-day fell on June 6 rather than the planned June 5.)

6. (intransitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.

   And so it falls to me to make this important decision.  The estate fell to his brother; the kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.

   • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 228744960, canto II:

     If to her share some female errors fall, / Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To diminish; to lessen or lower.
   • 1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692, OCLC 933799310:

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

8. (transitive, obsolete) To bring forth.

   to fall lambs

   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:

     The shepherd […] did […] fall part-colour'd lambs

9. (intransitive, obsolete) To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.

   (Can we find かつ add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

10. (intransitive) To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Hebrews 4:1:

      Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

11. (intransitive) To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.

    to fall into error;  to fall into difficulties

12. (intransitive) To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 4:5:

      Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

    • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, published 1712, [Act 1, scene 4]:

      I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.

13. (intransitive) To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Ruth 3:18:

      Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.

    • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I Scene 2

      […] An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.

    • 1701, [Jonathan Swift], “Chapter I”, in A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, with the Consequences They Had upon Both Those States, London: […] John Nutt […], OCLC 863434346, page 9:

      […] Polybius tells us, the beſt Government is that which conſiſts of three Forms, Regno, Optimatium, & Populi imperio. Which may be fairly Tranſlated, the Kings, Lords and Commons. […] the Romans fell upon this Model purely by chance, (which I take to have been Nature かつ common Reaſon) but the Spartans by Thought and Deſign.

    • 1879, Herbert Spenser, Principles of Sociology Volume II – Part IV: Ceremonial Institutions

      Primitive men […] do not make laws, they fall into customs.

14. (intransitive) To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.

    After arguing, they fell to blows.

    • 1881, Benjamin Jowett (Thucydides)

      They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.

15. (intransitive) To be dropped or uttered carelessly.

    An unguarded expression fell from his lips.

16. (intransitive, of a fabric) To hang down (under the influence of gravity).

    An Empire-style dress has a high waistline – directly under the bust – from which the dress falls all the way to a hem as low as the floor.