falls

Pluralfalls

1. 1
   it goes downverb

   Third-person singular simple present of fall.

   The temperature falls sharply once the sun goes down.

   Snow falls heavily across the mountains in midwinter.

   UsageWhen it means "belongs to a group or range," a preposition follows: it falls under state law, falls within the normal range.

2. 2
   river dropnouncountable

   A place where a river or stream plunges steeply over a ledge or cliff.

   The falls drop nearly three hundred feet into a misty gorge.

   Tourists gather below the falls to feel the cool spray on warm afternoons.

   UsageUsually the falls, even for one waterfall (a falls), and the verb can be plural or singular: the falls drop or drops.

   Similarwaterfall, cascade, cataract

   Note

   Plural in shape but often single in sense: one waterfall can be a falls, as in John Crowley's Little, Big (1981), where "a falls fell melodiously into a deep dark pool."

3. 3
   several dropsnoun

   Plural of fall.

   Repeated falls are a leading cause of injury among the elderly.

   The gymnast's two falls cost her the championship.

   UsageNot the same as the falls, a waterfall: several falls along a river are separate drops, and two falls on ice are two tumbles.

   Note

   Every countable sense of fall can be counted this way: tumbles on the ice, falls in price or pitch, falls from power, and, in American and Canadian use, seasons (two falls ago).

Showing meanings only. Show all 3