verb
- simple past tense of fall.
verb (used with object)
- to knock, strike, shoot, or cut down; cause to fall: to fell a moose; to fell a tree.
- Sewing. to finish (a seam) by sewing the edge down flat.
noun
- Lumbering. the amount of timber cut down in one season.
- Sewing. a seam finished by felling.
noun
- a town in NE England, in Gateshead unitary authority, Tyne and Wear; formerly noted for coal mining. Pop: 34 196 (2001)
verb (tr)
- to cut or knock downto fell a tree; to fell an opponent
- needlework to fold under and sew flat (the edges of a seam)
noun
- US and Canadian the timber felled in one season
- a seam finished by felling
adjective
- archaic cruel or fierce; terrible
- archaic destructive or deadlya fell disease
- one fell swoop a single hasty action or occurrence
verb
- the past tense of fall
noun
- an animal skin or hide
noun
- (often plural) Northern English and Scot
- a mountain, hill, or tract of upland moor
- (in combination)fell-walking
“rocky hill,” c.1300, from Old Norse fiall “mountain,” from Proto-Germanic *felzam- “rock” (cf. German Fels “stone, rock”), from PIE root *pel(i)s- “rock, cliff.”
Old English feoll; past tense of fall (v.).
“skin or hide of an animal,” Old English fel, from Proto-Germanic *fellom- (cf. Old Frisian fel, Old Saxon fel, Dutch vel, Old High German fel, German fell, Old Norse fiall, Gothic fill), from PIE *pello- (see film (n.)).
Old English fællan (Mercian), fyllan (West Saxon) “make fall, cause to fall,” also “strike down, demolish, kill,” from Proto-Germanic *fallijanan (cf. Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fellian, Dutch fellen, Old High German fellen, German fällen, Old Norse fella, Danish fælde), causative of *fallan (Old English feallan, see fall (v.)), showing i-mutation. Related: Felled; feller; felling.
“cruel,” late 13c., from Old French fel “cruel, fierce, vicious,” from Medieval Latin fello “villain” (see felon). Phrase at one fell swoop is from “Macbeth.”
see one fell swoop.