Fell

Fell (fel) , imperfect

imperfect of Fall.

Also: fell

Fell , adjective

[Old English fel, Old French fel cruel, fierce, perfidious; compare Anglo-Saxon fel (only in comp.) Old French fel, as a noun also accus. felon, is from Late Latin felo, of unknown origin; compare Arm fall evil, Ir. feal, Arm. falloni treachery, Ir. & Gael. feall to betray; or compare Old High German fillan to flay, torment, akin to English fell skin. Compare Felon.]

Cruel; barbarous; inhuman; fierce; savage; ravenous.

While we devise fell tortures for thy faults. — Shakespeare

Eager; earnest; intent. [Obsolete]

I am so fell to my business. — Pepys

Fell , noun

[Compare Latin fel gall, bile, or English fell, a.]

Gall; anger; melancholy. [Obsolete]

Untroubled of vile fear or bitter fell. — Spenser

Fell , noun

[Anglo-Saxon fell; akin to Dutch vel, Old High German fel, German fell, Icelandic fell (in comp.), Goth fill in þrutsfill leprosy, Latin pellis skin, Greek pe`lla. Compare Film, Peel, Pell, n.]

A skin or hide of a beast with the wool or hair on; a pelt; -- used chiefly in composition, as woolfell.

We are still handling our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy. — Shakespeare

Fell , noun

[Icelandic fell, fjally; akin to Swedish fjall a ridge or chain of mountains, Danish fjeld mountain, rock and prob. to German fels rock, or perh. to feld field, English field.]

A barren or rocky hill. — T. Gray

A wild field; a moor. — Dryton

Fell , transitive verb

[Anglo-Saxon fellan, a causative verb from feallan to fall; akin to Dutch vellen, German fallen, Icelandic fella, Swedish falla, Danish falde. See Fall, v. i.]

To cause to fall; to prostrate; to bring down or to the ground; to cut down.

Stand, or I'll fell thee down. — Shakespeare

Fell , noun

(Mining) The finer portions of ore which go through the meshes, when the ore is sorted by sifting.

Fell , transitive verb

[Compare Gael. fill to fold, plait, Swedish fåll a hem.]

To sew or hem; -- said of seams.

Fell , noun

(Sewing) A form of seam joining two pieces of cloth, the edges being folded together and the stitches taken through both thicknesses.

(Weaving) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.