fall off

See also: falloff and fall-off

English

Etymology

From fall +‎ off; and also dissimilated from Middle English offallen (“to destroy, defeat, ruin, fail”), from Old English offeallan (“to fall upon, destroy”).

Verb

fall off (third-person singular simple present falls off, present participle falling off, simple past fell off, past participle fallen off)

1. (transitive and intransitive) To become detached or to drop from.

   Synonym: drop off

   A button fell off my coat.

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

     Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.

   • 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: B.R. safety in 1959”, in Trains Illustrated, page 708:

     There were, however, 34 deaths among passengers in movement accidents, due mainly to misadventure and carelessness when entering and leaving trains in motion, falling off platforms and out of carriages, and opening and closing carriage doors.

2. (intransitive) To diminish in size, value, etc.

   Synonym: drop off

   Business always falls off in the winter.

   MC ___'s new album is wack - he's fallen off big-time.

   • 1950 January, “The North Pembrokeshire Line, Western Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:

     With the advent of motor bus services, traffic on the Rosebush line fell off to such an extent that it was decided to withdraw the passenger trains in the autumn of 1937.

   • 2021, Lil Nas X, THE MONTERO SHOW‎^[1]:

     "Ratio. YoungBoy is better." "What?" "Make better music. You fell off."

   • 2023 June 28, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: Alton to Exeter”, in RAIL, number 986, page 57:

     Bradshaw is always ready to talk 'manufactories', and here he confides that the town [Basingstoke] "carried on a rather considerable business in druggets, which has since fallen off".

3. (nautical) To change the direction of the sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind; to bring the bow leeward.
   • 1846, Melville, Typee, chapter 1:

     'Why d'ye see, Captain Vangs,' says bold Jack, 'I'm as good a helmsman as ever put hand to spoke; but none of us can steer the old lady now. We can't keep her full and bye, sir; watch her ever so close, she will fall off and then, sir, when I put the helm down so gently, and try like to coax her to the work, she won't take it kindly, but will fall round off again; and it's all because she knows the land is under the lee, sir, and she won't go any more to windward.'

   • 1854, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Lawrence v. Minturn, Opinion of the Court

     She would not mind her helm, but would fall off; she would settle down aft and take in water over her stern, and plunged heavily forward.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182:

     The pilot-boy, who was on the look-out forward, and was keeping the boat from falling off by using the starboard oar, as the current went in a westerly direction, answered that he thought "it went a little easier forward."

   • 1898, Kipling, The Burning of the Sarah Sands:

     There was the constant danger of the ship, now- broadside on to the heavy seas, falling off before the heavy wind, and leading the flames forward again.

4. (intransitive) To fall into sin; stray.
   • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

     I am bound to say that no one has fallen off so frequently as myself. I have renounced the devil and all his works; but it is by word of mouth only—by word of mouth only.

Derived terms

Terms derived from fall off

• falling off, falling-off
• fall-off, falloff
• fall off the back of a lorry
• fall off the turnip truck
• fall off the wagon
• the wheels fell off

Translations

To become detached or to drop from.

• Old Tupi: kuî
• Spanish: caer (es)

To diminish in size, value, etc.

• Romanian: decădea (ro)
• Spanish: caer (es)

To change the direction of the sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind; to bring the bow leeward.

Noun

fall off (plural fall offs)

1. Alternative form of falloff