fall-fish 
fall-fish (fal'fish), . Acyprinoid fish, Semotilus 
bullaris, liaviiigauelougate robust body, the dor- 
sal fin just behind the ventrals, and of a steel- 
blue color above and generally silvery on the 
sides and belly. In the males in spring the belly mid 
lower fins are rosy or crimson. The species is abundant 
east of the Alleghanies, anil is the largest of the eastern 
American cj prinoids, reaching a length of 18 inches. Also 
called chub and silver chub. 
fall-gate (fal'gat), . A gate across a public 
road, made so as to rise and fall. [Prov. Eng.] 
fallibility (fal-i-bil'i-ti), n. [= F. faillibilite = 
Sp. falibilidad = Pg. fallibilidade = It. fallibi- 
litd,'< ML. as if "fallibilita(t-)s, <fallibilis, fal- 
lible: see fallible and -bility.] The state or 
character of being fallible; liableness to de- 
ceive or to be deceived : as, the fallibility of an 
argument, of reasoning, or of a person. 
All human Laws are but the offspring of that frailty, 
that fbUibtltiy, and imperfection which was in thir Au- 
thors. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxvil. 
fallible (fal'i-bl), a. [= F. failliblc = Sp. fali- 
ble = Pg.fallii'd = It.faUibile, < ML. fallibilis, 
liable to err, also deceitful, < L. fallere, deceive, 
pass, falli, be deceived, err: gee/aft 1 .] 1. Lia- 
ble to err; capable of being or apt to be de- 
ceived or mistaken : said of persons. 
Tried not before a fallible tribunal, but the awful throne 
of Heaven. Goldsmith, English Clergy. 
For they were but men, frail, fallible men. 
Slory, Speech, Salem, Sept. 18, 1828. 
2. Liable to be erroneous or false ; subject to 
inaccuracy or fallaciousness : said of arguments, 
statements, etc. 
Do not satisfy your resolution with hopes that are falli- 
ble. Shak., M. for II., iii. 1. 
These are but the conclusions anA fallible discourses of 
man upon the word of God. 
Sir T. Brmme, Religio Medici, i. 23. 
Few things, however, are more fallible than political 
predictions. Lecky, Bug. In 18th Cent., xv. 
fallibleness (fal'i-bl-nes), . Same as fallibility. 
Having mentioned the weakness and fallibleness of these 
few principles, I leave you to the farther consideration of 
the frailness and danger of those superstructures which 
shall be erected on any or all of these. 
Hammond, Works, I. 335. 
fallibly (fal'i-bli), adv. In a fallible manner ; 
mistakenly or deceptively. 
falling (fa/ling), n. [ME. fallipig, 
fallen, fall.] 1. That which falls 
fallen, fall.] 
dropping. 
verbal n. of 
or drops ; a 
'Tis the beggar's gain 
To glean the fallings of the loaded wain. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 103. 
2. That which sinks ; a hollow : as, risings and 
fallings in the ground. 
He . . . ambushed his footmen in the falling of a hill 
which was overshadowed with a wood. 
Sir P. Sidmy, Arcadia, iii. 
3. In patlwl., displacement of a part or organ 
downward: as, falling of the womb or of the 
eyelid. See prolapsus, ptosis. 
falling-bandt (fa'ling-band), n. A collar for 
the neck, of cambric, lace, or the like, made to 
turn over and lie upon the shoulders, and so 
named to distinguish it from the stiff ruff : worn 
in the seventeenth century. The falling-band con- 
sisted sometimes of several pieces, one lying over another, 
like the capes of some modern overcoats. It was gome- 
times deeply tinted, like the standing ruff, and required 
a poking-stick to arrange it. The more common form is 
that familiar in portraits dating between 1640 and 1660 a 
broad, plain linen collar, turned over the doublet or corse- 
let. Also/off. 
To make some . . . falling bands a [in] the fashion, 
three falling one upon another : for that's the new edition 
now. Dekker, Honest Whore, i. 7. 
The eighth Henry (as I understand) 
Was the first kinor that ever wore a Band. 
And but & falling Band, plaine with a hem, 
All other people knew no use of them. 
John Taylor, Praise of Clean Linnen. 
falling-door (fa'ling-dor), n. Same as flap-door. 
falling-evilt, . [ME. fallynge euylt, falland 
euyl (= OHG. falland ubil), tr. L. morbus cadu- 
CHS.] Same as falling-sickness. 
falling-fromt (fa'ling-from'), A falling 
away; desertion. 
The mere want of gold, and the fatting from of his 
friends, drove him into this melancholy. 
Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 
falling-mold (fa'ling-mold), . A name of the 
two molds which are applied, the one to the con- 
vex and the other to the concave vertical side of 
a rail-piece of a hand-railing, in order to form 
its back and under surface and finish the squar- 
ing. IMP- Diet. 
falling-off (fa'ling-6f), n. Decrease; deca- 
dence ; a falling away. See to fall off, under 
fall 1 , v. i. 
134 
2129 
And therefore, if any of our divines following the Re- 
monstrants abroad have herein depiirU-d from the prin- 
ciples of our church, it is high time to take notice of this 
falling-of. Waterland, Works, V. 466. 
He lost no time in repairing to the Pretender, . . . and 
took the seals of that nominal king, as he had formerly 
those of his potent mistress, liut this was a terrible fall- 
ing off indeed. Goltlmiiith, Bolingbrukr. 
falling-OUt (fa'ling-ouf), n. A quarrel ; a dis- 
pute. See to fall out, under fall*-, v. i. 
falling-sickness (fa'ling-sik"nes), n. [Simi- 
larly named in T>. vallende ziekte, OHG. fal- 
landiu suht, G. fallende sucht, Svr.fallande sot, 
Dan. faldsot, faldende syge.~\ A fit in which 
one suddenly falls to the ground: a popular 
name for epilepsy. 
Cas. What? Did Cresar swoon ? 
Caeca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed 
at mouth, and was speechless. 
Bru. Tis very like : he hath the falling sickness. 
Shak., J. C., i. 2. 
falling-Star (fa'ling-star'), n. One of a class 
of meteors which appear as luminous points 
shooting or darting through larger or smaller 
arcs of the sky, and followed by long trains of 
light. They are observable in the night sky 
throughout the year. Also called shooting-star. 
Fallopian (fa-16'pi-an), a. Of, pertaining to, 
or discovered by Gabriel Fallopius, or Fallopio, 
a famous Italian anatomist (1523-62). He pub- 
lished his discovery of the Fallopian tubes in 
1561 Fallopian aqueduct. See aaucediictw Fallopii, 
under aqtia?diictus, and nertriduct. Fallopian canal, 
(a) A Fallopian tube, (b) The Fallopian aqueduct. 
Fallopian pregnancy, the development of the embryo 
to some extent in a Fallopian tube ; a form of extra-uter- 
ine pregnancy. Fallopian tubes, in anat., a pair of 
ducts extending from the ovary to the uterus, conveying 
ova. In the human female they are three or four inches 
long, and lie between the folds of peritoneum which con- 
stitute the broad ligament of the uterus on each side, near 
the upper border or these folds, and consist of a serous, a 
muscular, and a mucous coat. The outer or ovarian end 
is fringed with processes, and called the fimbriated ex- 
tremity, or morsus diaboli, which is more or less closely 
applied to the ovary. One of these oviducts, right or left, 
receives the ripened ovum on its escape from the ovary, 
and conducts it into the womb. 
fallow 1 (fal'6), a. [< ME. falow, falewe,falu>e, 
yellow, yellowish, pale, faded (of blond hair, 
complexion, withered grass ; applied poetically 
also to a battle-field) ; < AS. fealu (fealw-), yel- 
low, yellowish, pale, faded, wan (of flame, bird's 
feet, a horse (bay), withered grass or leaves, 
or flowers, waves, waters, roads, etc.), = OS. 
falu = D. vaal = OHG. falo (falaw-), MHG. 
val (value-), G. falil, also (from the MHG. ob- 
lique forms' stem valw-) falb (whence It. falbo 
= F. fauve = Pr.falb,faub, fauve), pale, faded, 
= Icei./67r, pale,=Dan. Sw.fal- (incomp.,Dan. 
falaske, Sw. falaska, embers, lit. pale ashes) ; 
cf . Gr. Tro/Udf, gray (of hair, of a wolf, of waves, 
etc.), = L. pall-idus, pale, pallid, = Skt. pallia, 
gray.] Pale; pale-yellow; yellowish; sallow. 
His hewefaluv, and pale as asschen colde. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 506. 
Thare groued neuer gres [grass] ne neuer sail 
Bot euermore be ded and dri, 
And falow and fade. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 66. 
Fallow deer. See fallow-deer. 
fallow 1 ! (fal'6), v. i. [< ME. falowen, falewen, 
faluwen,falicen, become fallow, yellowish, pale, 
withered, < AS. fealwian, fealuwian, become 
yellow, wither (as grain, grass, leaves, etc.) 
(= OHG. falawen, falewen, MHG. valwen, G. 
falben; cf. Icel. folna = Dan. falne = Sw. 
falna, wither, fade), < fealu, fallow, pale: see 
fallow 1 , a.~\ To become fallow, pale, yellow- 
ish, or withered ; fade ; wither. 
Under molde hi liggeth colde and faleweth so doth me- 
dewe gresa. Old Eng. Miscellany (ed. Morris), p. 93. 
His lippislike to the lede [lead] and his lire [cheek]/a/- 
owede. Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3956. 
fallow 2 (fal'6), a. and n. [< ME./tow, plowed, 
of land ; falow, falwe, n., plowed land : see fal- 
low 2 , v. This appears to be merely a special 
application of falow,' falwe, fallow, i. e., pale, 
dusky, applied to fields and " meadows brown 
and sere," as they become in the fall ; hence of 
fields plowed up after harvest, and left to rest, 
whence the mod. sense. See fallow 1 , a. But 
it is possible that there has been confusion with 
AS. (gloss) fealh, pl.fealga, a harrow (the ME. 
form would be *falwc, "falow), = OHG. LG. 
felga, MHG. G. felge, a harrow, MHG. valgen, 
G. felgen = LG. falgeii, till, cultivate.] L a. 
Plowed and left unseeded ; left for a consider- 
able time unworked or unseeded after tillage; 
fall-rope 
untilled; uncultivated; neglected: said of land: 
often used figuratively. 
Break up your fallow ground. Jer. iv. 3. 
Let the cause \\efallow. S. Butler, Hudibras. 
Landor says that he cannot have a great deal of mind 
who cannot afford to let the larger part of it lie/n(/ow. 
Mary, fuller, Woman in 19tb Cent., p. 27. 
The soil, where it was ploughed, was the richest vege- 
table loam. Where it lay/attotc, it was entirely hidden by 
a bed of grass and camomile. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 44. 
II. n. 1. Land broken up by the plow to 
prepare it for future seeding; land that has 
lain for a considerable time unseeded after 
tillage. 
Whoso that buyldeth his hona al of salwes [sallows, wil- 
lows] 
And priketh his blynde hors over thefalwes . . . 
Is worthy to been honged on the galwes. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 656. 
Falow, lond eryd [land eared, i. e., plowed]. 
Prompt. Pan. 
It is as if an earthquake had swallowed up the unculti- 
vated fallows. Everett, Orations, II. 225. 
2. In agri., the method of allowing land to lie 
for a season or more untilled in order to in- 
crease its power of producing crops. 
By a complete summer fallow, land is rendered tender 
and mellow. Sir J. Sinclair. 
A green fallow, in England, fallow where land is ren- 
dered mellow and clean from weeds by means of some 
green crop, as tnrnipsor potatoes. In fallow, uncropped ; 
unseeded, literally or figuratively. 
Every one who has been upon a walking or a boating 
tour, living in the open air, with the body in constant ex- 
ercise and the mind in fallow, knows true ease and quiet. 
R. L. Stecenson, Walt Whitman. 
fallow 2 (fal'6), v. t. [< ME. falowen, falwen, 
plow, till; cf. LG. falgen, till: see fallow 2 , a.] 
To render fallow; put (land) into the condition 
of a fallow, namely, by plowing, harrowing, and 
breaking it without seeding, for the purpose of 
destroying weeds and insects and rendering it 
mellow : as, it is well to fallow cold, strong, 
clayey land. 
That were erthetilyes Rode, 
Hy faleweden erthe and feolden [felled] wode. 
Chron. Eng. (Eng. Met. Rom., ed. Ritson, II. 93). 
Burning of thistles, and diligente weeding them out of 
the corne, doth not halfe so much rydde them as when 
the ground isfalloed and tilled for good grayne. 
Ascham, Toxophilus. 
The practice of falloiring, the sowing of French grasses, 
and the proper way of making hay. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., XXVIII. 30. 
fallow 3 (fal'6), n. [A dial, form of felloe, felly.'} 
One of the strakes of a cart. [Prov. Eng.] 
Fallowes, or straikes of a cart,Victus. lluloet. 
fallow-chat (fal'6-chat), n. ^fallow 1 + chat 2 .'] 
Same as fallow-finch . 
fallow-crop (fal'6-krop), n. The crop taken 
from a green fallow. 
fallow-deer (fal'6-der'), n. [< fallow 1 + deer. 
Cf . AS. " dun-fealu, cervinus," i. e., ' dun-fallow, 
deer-colored.'] A deer of the genus Dama : so 
called from its fallow or yellowish color spot- 
ted with white. The best-known species is the com- 
mon European Cervus dama, or Dama plati/ceros, often 
kept in preserves. It is smaller than the stag or red deer ; 
has the antlers differently formed, with more palmution 
at their ends ; and stands about 3 feet high at the withers. 
There are several varieties, differing chiefly in coloration, 
and bucks of various ages receive different n;imes, as 
fawn, pricket, sorrel, soare, etc. See cut under Dama. 
fallow-dun (fal'6-dnn), a. See dun 1 . 
fallow-field (fal'6-feld), . A common field. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
fallow-finch (fal'6-finch), n. A name of the 
wheatear or stonechat, Saxicola ainanthe, a 
small oscine passerine bird of the family Tur- 
didce or subfamily Saxicolinai. See wheatear. 
Also called fallow-chat. 
fallowforth (fal'6-forth), n. A waterfall. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
fallowist(fal'6-ist),. [< fallow 2 + -ist.~\ One 
who favors the practice of fallowing land. 
[Rare.] 
On this subject a controversy has arisen between two 
sects, the fallowists and the anti-fallowists. 
Sir J. Sinclair. 
fallowness (fal'6-nes), n. [(fallow 2 + -ness.'] 
The state of being fallow. 
Lik one who in her third widowhood did profess 
Herself a nun, ty'd to retireduess, 
So affects my Muse now a chaste falloicnesn. 
Donne, To Mr. R. Woodward. 
fallow-smicht (fal'6-smich), . [< fallow 1 + 
*smich(%Se.smitch, a speck, spot).] The wheat- 
ear or fallow-finch, Saxicola omantlie. Macgil- 
l/rrtn/. 
fall-fope (fal'rop), n. The fall of a tackle. 
