Wiktionary

fell

See also: Fell

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /fɛl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

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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-West Germanic *fallijan, from Proto-Germanic *fallijaną (“to fell, to cause to fall”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂peh₃lH-.

Cognate with Dutch vellen (“to fell, cut down”), German fällen (“to fell”), Danish fælde (“to fell”), Norwegian felle (“to fell”).

Verb

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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.
  2. (transitive) To strike down, kill, destroy.
    • 1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars‎[2], HTML edition, 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.
    • 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 19:
      "Even in his most temperate moments he is constantly felling people with a hunting-crop."
    • 2010 September 27, Christina Passariello, “Prodos Capital, Samsung Make Final Cut for Ferré”, in Wall Street Journal‎[3], retrieved 2012-08-26:
      … could make Ferré the first major fashion label felled by the economic crisis to come out the other end of restructuring.
    • 2016 January 17, “What Weiner Reveals About Huma Abedin”, in Vanity Fair, retrieved 21 January 2016:
      This Sunday marks the debut of Weiner, a documentary that follows former congressman Anthony Weiner in his attempt to overcome a sexting scandal and run for mayor of New York City—only to be felled, somewhat inexplicably, by another sexting scandal.
  3. (sewing) To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
    • 2006, Colette Wolff, The Art of Manipulating Fabric, page 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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Noun

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The fell, or stitched down portion of a kilt

fell (plural fells)

  1. A cutting-down of timber.
  2. The stitching down of a fold of cloth; specifically, the portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down.
  3. (textiles) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.
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  • fell stitch
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English fell, fel, vel, from Old English fel, fell (“hide, skin, pelt”), from Proto-West Germanic *fell, from Proto-Germanic *fellą, from Proto-Indo-European *pél-no- (“skin, animal hide”).

See also West Frisian fel, Dutch vel, German Fell, Latin pellis (“skin”), Lithuanian plėnė (“skin”), Russian плена́ (plená, “pelt”), Albanian plah (“to cover”), Ancient Greek πέλλᾱς (péllās, “skin”). Related to film, felt, pell, and pelt.

Noun

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fell (plural fells)

  2. An animal skin, hide, pelt.
  3. Human skin (now only as a metaphorical use of previous sense).
    • c. 1390, William Langland, Piers Plowman, section I:
      For he is fader of feith · fourmed ȝow alle / Bothe with fel and with face.
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Etymology 3

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From Middle English fell, felle (“hill, mountain”), from Old Norse fell, fjall (“rock, mountain”), compare Norwegian Bokmål fjell 'mountain', Danish fjeld 'mountain', from Proto-Germanic *felzą, *fel(e)zaz, *falisaz (compare German Felsen 'boulder, cliff', Middle Low German vels 'hill, mountain'), from Proto-Indo-European *pels-; compare Irish aill (“boulder, cliff”), Ancient Greek πέλλα (pélla, “stone”), Pashto پرښه (parṣ̌a, “rock, rocky ledge”), Sanskrit पाषाण (pāṣāṇa, “stone”). Doublet of fjeld.

 
Typical fells in Scandinavia.

Noun

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fell (plural fells)

  2. (archaic outside Northern England, Scotland) A rocky ridge or chain of mountains.
    • 1886, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The Squire of Sandal-Side : A Pastoral Romance‎[4]:
      Every now and then the sea calls some farmer or shepherd, and the restless drop in his veins gives him no peace till he has found his way over the hills and fells to the port of Whitehaven, and gone back to the cradling bosom that rocked his ancestors.
    • 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.
    • 1970, James Herriot, If Only They Could Talk:
      I got out and from where I stood, high at the head, I could see all of the strangely formed cleft in the hills, its steep sides grooved and furrowed by countless streams feeding the boisterous Halden Beck which tumbled over its rocky bed far below. Down there, were trees and some cultivated fields, but immediately behind me the wild country came crowding in on the bowl where the farmhouse lay. Halsten Pike, Alstang, Birnside—the huge fells with their barbarous names were very near.
    • 1971, Catherine Cookson, The Dwelling Place:
      She didn't know at first why she stepped off the road and climbed the bank on to the fells; it wasn't until she found herself skirting a disused quarry that she realised where she was making for, and when she reached the place she stood and gazed at it. It was a hollow within an outcrop of rock, not large enough to call a cave but deep enough to shelter eight people from the rain, and with room to spare.
  3. (archaic outside Northern England, Scotland) A wild field or upland moor.
    • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 11 p. 174:
      As over Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell;
    • 1948 March and April, O. S. Nock, “Scottish Night Mails of the L.M.S.R.—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 77:
      The night continued beautifully clear and fine, and as we came into the fell country the outlines of the hills showed up dark against the starlit sky.
    • 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:
      And there are few better ways to enjoy the rugged bleakness of the fells than from a nice warm train, especially when the weather's constantly changing as the day slips away.
    • 2023 June 29, Metro, London, page 15, column 3:
      An artist dubbed the Borrowdale Banksy has created this slate work on a Lake District fell after past efforts were vandalised.
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Translations
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Etymology 4

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From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), either from Old French fel[1] or from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-West Germanic *fali, *falu, from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Middle Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), German Low German fell (“rash, swift”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”). Compare also Middle High German vālant (“imp”) and Dutch fel (“fierce, feisty, bitter”). See felon.

Adjective

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fell (comparative feller, superlative fellest)

  1. Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage.
    one fell swoop
  2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent
  3. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Very large; huge.
  4. (obsolete) Eager; earnest; intent.
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Adverb

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fell (comparative more fell, superlative most fell)

  1. Sharply; fiercely.
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Etymology 5

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Perhaps from Latin fel (“gall, poison, bitterness”), or more probably from the adjective above.

Noun

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fell (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete, rare) Anger; gall; melancholy.

Etymology 6

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Noun

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fell

  1. (mining) The finer portions of ore, which go through the meshes when the ore is sorted by sifting.

Etymology 7

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Verb

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fell

  1. simple past of fall
  2. (now colloquial) past participle of fall
    • 1650, Micheel Sandivogius, translated by J. F., A New Light of Alchymie: Taken Out of the Fountaine of Nature, and Manuall Experience […] ‎[5], London: Richard Cotes, page 121:
      For I have heard that my Enemies have fell into that ſnare which they laid for mee. They which would have taken away my life have loſt their own; […]
    • 1796, Thomas Bennett, The Life and Remarkable Conversion of T. Bennett, Etc. [Written by Himself.]‎[6], London, →ISBN, page 31:
      I ſhould have fell overboard, or been killed by the enemy ; for having ſo many things to carry along with me, which I knew not how to uſe […]
    • 2013 October 3, John McGahern, Collected Stories‎[7], Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 147:
      And when it got to ten past I said you must have fell in with company, but I was beginning to get worried.' 'You know I never fall in with company,' he protested irritably. 'I always leave the Royal at ten to, never a minute more nor less.'

References

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  1. ^ “fell”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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Albanian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Albanian *spesla, metathesized form of *spelsa, from Proto-Indo-European *pels- (“rock, boulder”), variant of *spel- (“to cleave, break”). Compare Latin hydronym Pelso, Latin Palatium, Pashto پرښه (parša, “rock, rocky ledge”), Ancient Greek πέλλα (pélla, “stone”), German Felsen (“boulder, cliff”). Mostly dialectal, used in Gheg Albanian.

Adverb

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fell

  1. deep, shallow

Derived terms

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Cornish

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Etymology

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Perhaps an alteration of Middle Cornish felen (under influence from Middle English fell), itself a mutation of Middle Cornish melen/milen, which being equivalent to the modern word milus (“brutal”).[1]

Adjective

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fell

  1. grim; cruel; fierce

References

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  1. ^ Williams, Robert (1865) “felen”, in Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum: A Dictionary of the Ancient Celtic Language of Cornwall, in which the Words are elucidated by Copious Examples from the Cornish Works now remaining; With Translations in English​, London: Trubner & Co., pages 147, 205

Icelandic

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Etymology

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Old Norse fjall (“mountain”)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fell n (genitive singular fells, nominative plural fell)

  1. isolated hill, isolated mountain

Declension

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Declension of fell (neuter)
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative fell fellið fell fellin
accusative fell fellið fell fellin
dative felli fellinu fellum fellunum
genitive fells fellsins fella fellanna

Verb

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fell

  1. first-person singular present indicative active of falla

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Adjective

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fell

  1. Alternative form of fele (“good”)

Etymology 2

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Noun

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fell

  1. Alternative form of fille

Norwegian Bokmål

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Verb

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fell

  1. imperative of felle

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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fell

  1. present of falle

Etymology 2

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Verb

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fell

  1. imperative of fella

Old English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *fell, whence also Old High German vel.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fell n

  1. fell
  2. skin

Old Norse

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Verb

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fell

  1. inflection of falla:
    1. first-person singular present/past active indicative
    2. third-person singular past active indicative
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