Forms: 1 fealle, 5 falle, felle, 9 Sc. fa, 8– fall. [OE. (mús-) fealle wk. fem. (OHG. falla), f. feallan to FALL.] Something that falls; a trap-door, trap. Cf. PITFALL, TRAPFALL, SPRINGFALL.
[a. 1000. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 477. Pelx, musfealle.]
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 147. Falle, or mowstrappe, muscipula, decipula.
1772. T. Simpson, Vermin-Killer, 6, note. By a Fall is meant a wire door, hung at the top instead of the sides.
1802. Sibbald, Gloss. Fa, trap for mice or rats.
1823. J. D. Hunter, Captivity N. Amer., 114. I had constructed several falls … in the vicinity of the beaver houses.
