[f. as prec. + -ING2.]
1. That falls, in various senses of the vb.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 27581 (Cott.). Þe standand fall, þe falland rise.
1611. Bible, Isa. xxxiv. 4. All their hoste shall fall downe as the leafe falleth off from the Vine, and as a falling figge from the figge tree.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. ii. 333. Presse not a falling man too farre.
1661. J. Childrey, Britannia Baconica, 170. The high Hils in the North did not break of the storms and falling Snow.
1693. Congreve, Love for Love, Prologue, 21.
| If in our larger Family we grieve | |
| One falling Adam, and one tempted Eve. |
a. 1711. Ken, Hymns Evang., Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 86.
| Dark Prophecies predict our falling State, | |
| The Wonders at his Birth some Dread create. |
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. (1763), II. xxix. 29. My Caftan, of the same stuff with my drawers, is a robe exactly fitted to my shape, and reaching to my feet, with very long strait falling sleeves.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., I. 490.
| The Vessel parted on the falling tide, | |
| Yet time one sacred hour to Love supplied. |
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. 148. The prudence and vigour of Stilicho were conspicuous on this occasion, which revealed, at the same time, the weakness of the falling empire.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & Snoek, vi. 99. There was something in Hein’s frowning brow and falling countenance as he read, which induced Jakob to take up his theme again as soon as he could obtain a hearing.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. iv. 28. The long throat and falling shoulders.
1848. Mill, Pol. Econ., III. xxiv. § 3. The speculative holders are unwilling to sell in a falling market.
1858. in Merc. Marine Mag., V. 12. Kate Hooper … had strong … winds … with falling barometer.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 852/2. The Peabody gun … has a falling breech-block.
2. Prosody. Of a foot, rhythm, etc.: Decreasing in stress, having the ictus at the beginning.
1844. Beck & Felton, trans. Munk’s Metres, 8. A rhythm which begins with the arsis, and descends to the thesis, is called falling or sinking.
3. Astrol. Falling houses (see CADENT a. 2).
1594. T. Blundevil, Exercises, IV. xxxvi. (ed. 7), 493. Those that goe next before any of the foure principall Angles, are called falling houses.
4. Falling-in: that slopes inwards from below.
1887. Scientific American, LVII. 2 July, 11/2. What, if any, is the advantage of building yachts with the falling-in top sides of a man of war?
5. Syntactical Combinations. a. Falling-†disease, †-evil (see EVIL 7 b), †-ill, -sickness (now rare) = EPILEPSY. Also humorously for ‘a fall,’ and fig.
The Eng. expressions are after L. morbus caducus; cf. Ger. fallende sucht.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 176. Fallinde vuel ich cleopie licomes sicnesse.
1527. L. Andrewe, Brunswyck’s The Vertuose Boke of Distyllacyon of All Manner of Waters, C v. An ounce is good for them that haue the fallynge sekenesse.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 171. The gall of a Ferret is commended against the Falling disease.
1652. Woman’s Universe, in Watson, Collect. Scots Poems, III. (1711), 101.
| Hippocrates for all his Skill | |
| In Nature’s hid Diseases, | |
| Could never cure her Falling-ill, | |
| Which takes her when she pleases. |
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Falling-Evil, a Disease which sometimes happens to Horses, being no other than the Falling-sickness, which proceeds from ill Blood, and Cold thin Phlegm gathered together in the Fore-part of the Head.
1843. Sir T. Watson, Lect. Physic (1871), I. 630. Its [epilepsy’s] common designation is the falling sickness; or, more vaguely, fits.
b. in various other Combs., as falling-band = FALL sb.1 23 a; † falling-door = folding-door; † falling-gate = falling-sluice; † falling-hinge, one by which a door, etc., rises vertically when opened; falling-mould, Arch. (see quot.); falling-sluice (see quot.).
1598. *Falling-band [see FALL sb.1 23 a].
1637. Earl of Cork, Diary, in Sir R. Boyle, Diary, Ser. I. (1886), V. 39. Sent me this daie … 6 laced ffalling bands and vi pair of cuffes sutable.
1753. Hanway, Trav. (1762), I. II. xxxiv. 156. The Aivan, or open hall, is in the centre, and shuts in with *falling-doors.
1801. Hull Navig. Act, 2559. Two clear openings … in which shall be placed *falling gates.
1783. Trans. Soc. Arts, I. 320. A *falling hinge.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Falling Moulds, the two moulds applied to the vertical sides of the railpiece, one to the convex, the other to the concave side, in order to form the back and under surface of the rail and finish the squaring.
1846. Buchanan, Technol. Dict., *Falling-sluice, a … flood-gate, in connection with mill-dams … self-acting or contrived to fall down of itself in the event of a flood.
