fell

Less common meanings

5. 5
   loggingnouncountable

   An instance or season of cutting down timber.

   Similarcut, harvest

6. 6
   had droppedverbnonstandard

   Past participle of fall. Nonstandard; the standard form is fallen.

   By the time help arrived, three of them had fell ill.

   They had fell behind on every payment that year.

   UsageStandard English uses fallen here: had fallen asleep (not incorrect: had fell asleep).

   Note

   A participle form that standard English rejected in favor of fallen. It once appeared in print without comment: a 1650 alchemy translation has enemies who "have fell into that snare," and Thomas Bennett in 1796 "should have fell overboard." It is now nonstandard. John McGahern gives it to a character in dialogue: "you must have fell in with company." Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The alchemy translation was published in 1650. gutenberg.org
   • The translation prints the quoted participle without an accompanying comment on its grammar. gutenberg.org
   • Thomas Bennett wrote the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
   • McGahern uses the quoted words in a character's dialogue. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   sew flatverbtransitive

   To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, such as a seam allowance or pleat, so that it lies flat.

   Fell the seam allowance flat before pressing the garment.

   The tailor fells the inside seam to keep it from fraying.

   Similarstitch

   Note

   A sewer's verb for holding a folded edge down with small stitches. Colette Wolff's The Art of Manipulating Fabric (1996) has the needle catch the lining underneath and come up a fraction of an inch ahead, then go into the seam allowance. The finish gives its name to the flat-felled seam, which encloses the raw edge so it lies smooth and resists fraying. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • Felling holds a folded fabric edge down with stitches. en.wiktionary.org
   • Colette Wolff wrote The Art of Manipulating Fabric, published in 1996. penguinrandomhouse.com
   • Wolff describes catching the lining underneath and emerging a fraction of an inch ahead into the seam allowance. en.wiktionary.org
   • The seam's name refers to felling the fabric down flat. gutenberg.org
   • A flat-felled seam encloses raw edges, keeps the allowance flat, and protects against fraying. en.wikipedia.org
8. 8
   adjectiveobsolete

   Eager, earnest, and intent.

   I am so fell to my business.

   1667, Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright

   Note

   An obsolete, kinder turn of the fierce adjective, describing zeal for work rather than for blood. Samuel Pepys writes in 1667, "I am so fell to my business," using it after the verb and with to plus the task. A modern reader would take that as grim rather than keen. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The fierce adjective had an obsolete sense meaning eager, earnest, or intent. en.wiktionary.org
   • Samuel Pepys wrote the quoted words in 1667, with fell following am and taking to my business. gutenberg.org
9. 9
   nounobsoleteuncountable

   Anger; bitterness of spirit; melancholy.

   Untroubled of vile fear or bitter fell.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

   I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day. / What hours, O what black hoürs we have spent / This night!

   1885, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “[Poem 45]”

   Note

   An obsolete, rare noun for bitterness of spirit, perhaps from Latin fel, "gall," though more probably from the fierce adjective. Spenser pairs it with fear in The Faerie Queene (1590): "vile fear or bitter fell." Gerard Manley Hopkins revives it in a sonnet first published in 1918: "I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day." Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • The noun is obsolete and rare, denoting anger, gall, or melancholy. en.wiktionary.org
   • Latin fel means gall; the noun may derive from it, but derivation from the fierce adjective is considered more probable. en.wiktionary.org
   • Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene first appeared in 1590. en.wikisource.org
   • Spenser pairs fear with bitter fell; the quotation modernizes the original spelling. en.wikisource.org
   • Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote the quoted opening line. en.wikisource.org
10. 10
    noun

    The sewing that secures a cloth fold, especially the section of a kilt between the waist and the seat where stitching holds the pleats flat.
11. 11
    nounarchaic

    The skin or hide of an animal, with or without its hair or wool; in older poetic use, human skin.

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

    c. 1598, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”
12. 12
    adverb

    In a sharp, fierce manner.
13. 13
    adjectivedialectalScotlandUK

    Strong and fiery to the senses; biting, keen, sharp, or pungent.
14. 14
    adjectivedialectalScotlandUK

    Very large in size; huge.
15. 15
    noun

    The end of a length of woven cloth, formed by the last thread of the weft.
16. 16
    noun

    The finer portions of ore that pass through the mesh when ore is sorted by sifting.