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Fell

//fɛl// adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage.

    "one fell swoop"

  2. 2
    Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent Scotland, UK, dialectal
  3. 3
    Very large; huge. Scotland, UK, dialectal
  4. 4
    Eager; earnest; intent. obsolete

    "I am so fell to my business."

Adjective
  1. 1
    (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Sharply; fiercely.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    A township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States.
  3. 3
    A municipality in Trier-Saarland district, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Noun
  1. 1
    A cutting-down of timber.
  2. 2
    An animal skin, hide, pelt.

    "Why, we are still handling our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy."

  3. 3
    High and barren landscape feature such as a mountain range or mountain terrain above the tree line.
  4. 4
    Anger; gall; melancholy. obsolete, rare, uncountable

    "Untroubled of vile fear or bitter fell."

  5. 5
    The finer portions of ore, which go through the meshes when the ore is sorted by sifting.
Show 10 more definitions
  1. 6
    Ellipsis of Fell pony. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

    "Fells are usually pure black with no white markings, but bay, gray, and brown are also possible."

  2. 7
    the act of felling something (as a tree) wordnet
  3. 8
    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.
  4. 9
    Human skin (now only as a metaphorical use of previous sense).

    "For he is fader of feith · fourmed ȝow alle / Bothe with fel and with face."

  5. 10
    A rocky ridge or chain of mountains, particularly in the British Isles or Fennoscandia. Scotland

    "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."

  6. 11
    Ellipsis of Fell mountain railway system, named after John Barraclough Fell. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable

    "This line [the Snaefell Mountain Railway] is the world's only example of an electrically-operated railway with a Fell central rail."

  7. 12
    seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges wordnet
  8. 13
    The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.
  9. 14
    A wild field or upland moor. Scotland

    "As over Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell;"

  10. 15
    the dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal) wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree. transitive

    "Stand, or I'll fell thee down."

  2. 2
    simple past of fall form-of, past
  3. 3
    cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow wordnet
  4. 4
    To strike down, kill, destroy. transitive

    "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."

  5. 5
    past participle of fall colloquial, form-of, participle, past

    "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;[…]"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    sew a seam by folding the edges wordnet
  2. 7
    To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.

    "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."

  3. 8
    pass away rapidly wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”).

Etymology 3

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.

Etymology 4

From Middle English fell, felle, from Old Norse fell (fjall, fiæl, “mountain range or mountain terrain above the tree line”), 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. Cognates includes: Danish fjeld (fjæld), Faroese fjall (fjøll), Icelandic fjall (fell), Norwegian fjell (fjøll, fjødd, fjedd, fjedl, fjill, fill, fil, fel), Swedish fjäll (Old Swedish fiæl).

Etymology 5

From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), either from Old French fel 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.

Etymology 6

From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), either from Old French fel 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.

Etymology 7

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

Etymology 8

* As an English surname, from the noun fell (“crag, rocky highland”). * As an English, Jewish, and German surname, from Fell (“pelt, fur”) or its Yiddish equivalent. Compare Pilcher.

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