Fail
Fail (fāl) , intransitive verb
[French failir, from Latin fallere, falsum, to deceive, akin to English fall. See Fail, and compare Fallacy, False, Fault.]
1.
To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be furnished in the usual or expected manner, or to be altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking; as, streams fail; crops fail.
As the waters fail from the sea.
Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign.
2.
To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size.
3.
To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
When earnestly they seek
Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.
4.
To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
5.
To perish; to die; -- used of a person. [Obsolete]
Had the king in his last sickness failed.
6.
To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation.
Take heed now that ye fail not to do this.
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.
7.
To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired; to be baffled or frusrated.
Our envious foe hath failed.
8.
To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not.
9.
To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent; as, many credit unions failed in the late 1980's.
Fail , transitive verb
1.
To be wanting to; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
There shall not fail thee a man on the throne.
2.
To miss of attaining; to lose. [Rare]
Though that seat of earthly bliss be failed.
Fail , noun
[Old French faille, from failir. See Fail, v. i.]
1.
Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail.
His highness' fail of issue.
2.
Death; decease. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare