FALL


Meaning of FALL in English

I. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a bomb falls on sth

A bomb fell on the cathedral during the war.

a burden falls on sb

The tax burden falls most heavily upon the poorest people.

a currency rises/falls (= it goes up or down in relation to other currencies )

The currency fell from 144 to the dollar twelve months ago to 812.

a deal falls through (= does not happen as arranged )

The cost was simply too high, so the deal fell through.

a dramatic fall/drop/decline

Between these years there was a dramatic fall in youth employment.

a drop/fall in temperature

At night there is a dramatic drop in temperature.

a fall of snow (= an occasion when it snows )

We had our first fall of snow in mid-November.

a fall/decline/drop in exports

There has been a decline in exports and an increase in oil prices.

a fall/drop in prices

Poor demand led to a sharp drop in prices.

a fall/drop in sales

Some jobs may be cut following a big drop in sales.

a fall/drop in value

There was a sudden drop in the value of oil.

a fall/reduction in unemployment

We are hoping to see a fall in unemployment.

a joke falls flat (= people don’t find a joke funny )

His practical jokes usually fell flat.

a level falls/goes down/decreases

Pollution levels have fallen slightly.

a number falls/drops/goes down/decreases/declines

The number of new houses being built is falling steadily.

a population falls/declines/decreases

The population in many rural areas has continued to fall.

a price goes down/falls/decreases

In real terms, the price of clothes has fallen over the last ten years.

a rating falls

His rating fell to only 28%.

a record falls (= is beaten )

Another record will fall on the last day of the season, if Arsenal win their final game.

a regime collapses/falls (= loses power )

Authoritarian regimes tend to collapse in times of economic hardship.

a rising/falling rate

A falling mortality rate led to a gradual increase in the proportion of the aged in the population.

a shadow falls somewhere (= appears on something )

The footsteps came closer, and a shadow fell across the table.

A...hush fell over

A sudden hush fell over the crowd.

an empire falls/collapses (= loses power suddenly )

In A.D.476, the western part of the Empire collapsed.

as easy as pie/ABC/falling off a log (= very easy )

come/fall under the influence of sb/sth (= be influenced by someone or something )

They had come under the influence of a religious sect.

come/fall within the scope of sth (= be included in it )

Banks and building societies fall within the scope of the new legislation.

consumption falls/decreases/goes down

Coal consumption has fallen dramatically.

curls fall/tumble (= hang down )

The child's golden curls fell around her shoulders.

darkness falls/comes ( also darkness descends literary )

As darkness fell, rescue workers had to give up the search.

decrease/fall by half (= become 50% less )

Share prices fell by half.

demand falls (= becomes lower )

Demand for the products has fallen in the last six months.

dive/fall/jump/plunge head-first

I fell head-first down the stairs.

earnings fall (= become lower )

The company’s earnings fell by 21% in the fourth quarter.

expenditure falls

Government expenditure on scientific research has fallen in the last few years.

exports fall/decline/drop

Exports of gas and oil continued to fall while imports of raw materials have risen.

fall about laughing British English (= laugh a lot )

He saw the look on my face and he just fell about laughing.

fall behind on the payments ( also fall behind with the payments British English ) (= not make payments when you should )

I’d run up nearly £4,000 in debt, and was beginning to fall behind with the payments.

fall behind with the rent/get behind on the rent (= fail to pay your rent on time )

You could be evicted if you fall behind with the rent.

fall below/fall short of sb's expectations (= be worse that someone hoped or expected )

Our profits last year fell below expectations.

fall below/fall short of sb's expectations (= be worse that someone hoped or expected )

Our profits last year fell below expectations.

fall far/a long way/well short of sth

Facilities in these schools fall far short of the standards required.

fall from a peak

Visitor numbers have fallen from a peak of 1.8 million per year to under 1 million.

fall guy

Browne claims that the company was simply looking for a fall guy.

fall ill formal (= become ill )

Louise fell ill while she was on holiday.

fall in love (= start being in love )

I fell in love with her the minute I saw her.

fall into a deep/long etc sleep (= start sleeping deeply, for a long time etc )

He lay down on his bed and fell into a deep sleep.

fall into abeyance (= no longer be used )

fall into disrepair

buildings allowed to fall into disrepair

fall into...snare

I didn’t want to fall into the same snare again.

fall off a ladder

One of the builders fell off a ladder and broke his leg.

fall outside the scope of sth (= not be included in it )

His later exploits in Persia fall outside the scope of this book.

fall short of a goal/target/ideal

The economy fell short of the Treasury’s target of 2% growth.

fall short of a target (= achieve less than you wanted to )

Car production at the plant has fallen short of its target by 5%.

fall short of the mark (= are not good enough )

One or two songs on the album are interesting, but most fall short of the mark .

fall short of your ideals (= not be as good as you think something should be )

In appearance, she fell somewhat short of his ideals.

fall to/hit/reach etc a new low (= be worth less than ever before )

The euro has fallen to a new low against the dollar.

fall vacant British English (= become vacant )

He was offered the position of headmaster when it fell vacant.

fall within the ambit of sth

areas falling within the ambit of our research

fall/come into a category

The data we collected fell into two categories.

fall/come to bits (= separate into many different parts because of being old or damaged )

The book was so old that I was afraid it would fall to bits.

fall/drop sharply

Oil prices fell sharply.

fall/drop/sink to the floor

He let his cigarette fall to the floor.

fallen leaves (= that have fallen off the trees )

The children were jumping in piles of fallen leaves.

fallen on hard times (= did not have much money )

He had clearly fallen on hard times .

fall/get behind with the mortgage (= be unable to pay enough money each month )

He fell behind with the mortgage when he lost his job.

fall/get into arrears (= become late with payments )

fall/go down in value

There is a risk that the shares may fall in value.

falling asleep at the wheel (= falling asleep while driving )

One in seven road accidents is caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel .

falling demand (= decreasing )

the falling demand for coal

falling star

fall/sit down etc with a bump

Rose fell, landing with a bump.

fall/take sick formal (= become ill, especially with something serious or that will last a long time )

He fell sick and died within a matter of weeks.

fall/walk into a trap

Police had set a trap for hooligans at the match.

fell headlong into

I fell headlong into a pool of icy water.

fell into disfavour

Coal fell into disfavour because burning it caused pollution.

fell into disrepute

This theory fell into disrepute in the fifties.

fell into disuse

The building eventually fell into disuse .

fell into...deep sleep

He lay down and fell into a deep sleep .

fell on unresponsive ears (= was not listened to )

His warning fell on unresponsive ears .

fell overboard

One of the crew fell overboard and drowned.

fell short of...expectations

Shares in the company dropped 26p yesterday, as profits fell short of City expectations .

fell silent (= became silent )

The crowd fell silent when the President appeared.

fell silent

At last the guns fell silent.

fell...against the yen (= decreased in value in relation to the yen )

The dollar fell by 24 percent against the yen between 1970 and 1973.

finger of suspicion...fell on

The finger of suspicion immediately fell on Broderick.

free fall

The spacecraft is now in free fall towards the Earth.

go/fall into a trance

She went into a deep hypnotic trance.

go/fall into decline (= become less important, successful etc )

At the beginning of the century the cloth trade was going into decline.

imports fall/drop

Imports of consumer goods fell sharply in December.

increase/rise/fall etc in production

a drop in oil and gas production

inflation falls

Inflation fell by 0.5% last month.

light falls on/across etc sth

The light fell on her book.

night falls written (= it starts to become dark )

It grew colder as night fell.

profits fall

The group saw profits fall from £24m to £17.8m.

rising/falling unemployment

Rising unemployment led to more crime.

sales fall/drop/go down (= become lower )

European sales have fallen by 12%.

sb’s face falls (= they look sad or disappointed )

Her face fell when she saw who it was.

sb’s gaze falls on sb/sth (= someone looks at someone or something )

Fisher’s gaze fell on Mr. Grant.

sb’s glance falls on sth (= someone looks at something )

Geoff’s glance fell on the broken vase.

sb’s income falls/goes down

Average income fell by one third during this period.

sb’s mouth falls/drops open (= in surprise )

‘Me?’ she said, her mouth dropping open.

shares fall/go down (= their value decreases )

Shares fell sharply on the London Stock Market yesterday.

silence falls/descends (= a silence begins )

A sudden silence fell over the room.

sink/fall/drop to your knees (= move so that you are kneeling )

Tim fell to his knees and started to pray.

slide/fall/descend into anarchy

The nation is in danger of falling into anarchy.

slip/fall/settle into a routine (= get into a routine without making any difficulty )

The team slipped quickly into a routine.

slip/lapse/fall/sink into a coma (= go into one )

Brett slipped into a coma from which he never awakened.

snow falls

Outside in the dark, snow was falling silently.

standards fall/slip/decline

School inspectors say that educational standards have fallen.

suspicion falls on sb

Suspicion fell on Jenkins who had been seen near the scene of the crime.

the cost falls/goes down

Airline costs have fallen considerably.

the fall/collapse of an empire (= the sudden end of an empire )

After the battle of Waterloo, the collapse of Napoleon's empire was inevitable.

the leaves fall

All the leaves had fallen off the tree.

the rain falls

The rain was still falling steadily.

the rise and fall of sb/sth

The exhibition tells the story of the rise and fall of the Etruscan civilisation.

the temperature falls/drops

Last winter, the temperature fell below freezing on only five days.

the value of sth falls

The value of your investment may fall.

throw sth into disarray/fall into disarray

The delay threw the entire timetable into disarray.

tripped and fell

He tripped and fell .

turnover rose/fell

Turnover rose 9%.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

sharply

Yet the jobless rate is falling sharply .

After that, volumes were expected to fall sharply .

Sickness absence overall fell sharply last year by almost 0.5 percent of working time from the 1991 figure of 4.0 percent.

The Potomac was clean again, a haven for windsurfers, and certain airborne pollutants had fallen sharply .

Sales of units fell sharply after the crash of October 1987.

Many technology stocks have fallen sharply in recent weeks because of concerns over the future of Internet advertising.

Enrolments at both primary and secondary levels fell sharply in the early 1980s before beginning to rise steadily from 1984 onwards.

Bombay: Prices fell sharply for the second day running.

■ NOUN

category

Five patients and one control fell into the borderline category .

Those management approaches which are presented in in-service education occasionally fall into the category of those which describe organized anarchy.

Less than one percent of homicides recorded nationwide last year fell into this category , McCrary said.

It can be argued that many projects fall into this category , perhaps usefully called development engineering.

As far as his or her departmental duties are concerned a minister's work will fall into roughly four categories .

Tien said members of those races in great numbers fall into the disadvantaged category .

darkness

He read it carefully, the lucid language and poetry of argument clearing and settling his mind. Darkness fell .

Finally darkness fell , and no new soldiers appeared.

Yet there was a sealed-in-cosiness when darkness fell early and the lights came on.

It looked like darkness would fall long before evening.

Just as darkness fell a man and a woman came and announced that I was sitting in their seats.

As darkness fell in late afternoon, rescue workers began recovering and identifying bodies with flashlights.

disuse

Many of these local mills remain in name alone, having fallen into disuse and demolition.

Because of the problems with false prophecy, the gift of prophecy itself eventually fell into disuse and sometimes disrepute.

The National Association of Gay Switchboards has fallen into disuse .

As a result there was water, water everywhere except in the Bath House, which fell into disuse and subsequently burned.

The railway tracks were lifted in the 1960s, and the bridge fell into disuse .

It was a commentary on heroism and how it has fallen into disuse .

It seems that the procedure, just outlined, for the creation of new criminal offences has fallen into disuse .

Many large-scale competitor data bases, especially those on mainframes, have fallen into disuse .

ear

This wide disposition yielded felicitous effects of colour and tone which always fell pleasingly on the ear .

The modulated, rhythmic braying of that mule fell upon his ears .

But his words fell on unresponsive ears .

Invitations by Paredes to the various governors to second his plan fell on deaf ears .

The house is falling down around our ears .

But my suggestions fell on deaf ears .

As he did so, a fine trickle of sawdust appeared to fall from his ear to the floor.

expectations

The operating performance of these reactors has also consistently fallen below expectations .

Digital Equipment Corp. this week warned Wall Street its third-quarter earnings will fall below analysts' expectations .

If this and other resolutions fell well below popular expectations , their implementation since then has invited even greater derision.

The company said its earnings would fall short of previous expectations mainly because of lower earnings from its Gulf Printing unit.

The trainers suggest that, as guards, they fell short of expectations .

Silicon Graphics said its earnings for the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31 would fall short of expectations .

Since Christmas, however, demand has fallen below expectations .

Yields on government treasury bills are falling amid expectations of a second rate cut within three months, he said.

face

As the youth smoked a cigarette, shadows fell across his face .

How stupid to fall on your face .

Golden flowers danced before his eyes as he fell forward, his face banging the brick floor.

The tramp had fallen forward on to his face , his body twitching madly, blood spreading out around his head.

But once the ball tips, the game falls flat on its face faster than a top-ranked team after a first-round upset.

Because if you don't a fresh ambition or optimistic plan will fall flat on its face .

Her thick hair fell forward over her face .

floor

Her nightdress fell to the floor as she reached the door.

The umbrella fell to the floor with a sharp crack of the ferrule on the tile.

He says that he felt strange and fell on to the floor .

One by one, Hinn touched them and they fell to the floor .

Now the challenge is to mould a new identity for international car racing by Timothy Collings Cigarette ash fell to the floor .

When he ran his hand over it, a sprinkle of grit fell to the floor .

It blew her hair across her face, and some books fell on the floor .

ground

Swarf smiled in triumph, letting the body fall on to the ground .

Not finished, he slammed into reverse so quickly that she fell to the ground .

Joseph's words fell on stony ground .

He just let the pits fall on the ground below.

Failing payment of the £30 the Company's promise would fall to the ground .

A long shadow fell across the ground in front of me.

Whatever it was precipitated an avalanche of other objects which thundered down around him as Charles fell sprawling to the ground .

As he attempted to dismount, he seemed to lose strength, and half fell to the ground .

hair

When she tossed her head her hair fell around her shoulders and upper arms in a lovely auburn cascade.

The hair and skin had fallen from the head, and the flesh from the bones-all alive with disgusting maggots.

He developed cancer, and despite radium treatment - after which all his hair fell out - he was declared terminally ill.

Her black hair fell to her shoulders.

Her hair fell forward into the frying steak and potatoes; she brushed her hair back with a fat-coated hand.

Back at home again I came down to breakfast one morning scratching my head and my hair started to fall out.

His Straight brown hair fell half-combed across his forehead, and his clothes were clean but rumpled.

hand

In those days, the sweat would fall off my hands and I'd hear it hitting the floor.

He lurched sideways and fell to his hands and knees on the stone steps.

In these circumstances, the Anti-Corn law movement fell into the able hands of Richard Cobden.

Finally, this charming corner has fallen into the right hands .

The revolver nearly fell from my hands , and my whole body froze with fear.

The power to play or not fell into the hands of program director Crocker and his peers around the country.

Not unless they fell into Morton's hands .

I was endlessly letting things fall out of my hands .

index

The Nikkei index has fallen by 60 percent from its peak, and is now testing the 17,000 level.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell for a third day, dropping as much as 10. 53 to 988. 29.

The FTSE100 index fell to its lowest level of the year.

The Nikkei 300 index fell 0. 45, or 0. 15 percent, to 297. 38.

The stock market, whose index had fallen throughout 1990, lost a further 7.5 points in response to the package.

The Bloomberg New York Metro index fell 2. 04, or 1. 57 percent, to 127. 43.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell for a third day, dropping 8. 60 to 990. 22.

knee

She fell on her knees before them and begged them to take her with them.

She stumbled and fell to her knees .

When Blue Beard returns, he falls to his knees and hugs his wife.

Francis Lee received a little kick and fell on his knees .

He fell to his knees and greedily sucked up the water like a thirsty horse.

Too fast for his shorter legs and he fell on his knees .

The woman in the blue raincoat fell to her knees , still clinging with one hand to the push-chair.

love

Now, she had fallen in love .

It was just like falling in love .

The couple fell in love before they had even set eyes on each other during a six-month long distance courtship.

Eventually, with the help of magic and fate, Ashputtel and the prince fell in love and married.

Having fallen in love with each other, the couple are now setting up home together at lightning speed.

Kathy had fallen in love with an old blue Victorian across from Edgewood Park.

I am the same woman you fell in love with then, the very same.

In the one year, 1920-the year Amelia fell in love with flying-fifteen aerial mail pilots died.

market

The Hong Kong stock market fell by 5 percent after Mr Li's attack.

How could Vinik unwind such large positions without the markets for those stocks falling in on themselves and on Magellan?

So if the market falls , he is protected by the option.

Gas utility companies fell after the government said it was considering allowing non-gas companies to enter the retail gas market .

One of those things was that the stock market might fall , oh, say, 20 percent this year.

Keynes's theory of labour market adjustment has fallen victim to widespread ignorance and neglect.

That makes a difference when it comes to refinancing the bonds, or locking in lower payments when bond market rates fall .

piece

It should fall out in one piece .

And then he fell into two pieces .

The metal bubbled for an eye-aching moment, and then the door fell in two pieces in the passage beyond.

After he left, I fell to pieces .

He hated playing agony aunt but he couldn't afford to have Hirschfeldt falling to pieces .

Supposing the union fell to pieces , these were the fracture lines along which it would naturally break.

The Soviet Union is falling to pieces; a bloody struggle for those pieces can not be ruled out.

The media seemed to be willing the marriage to fall to pieces .

points

In October the index fell below 20,000 points , leading to government intervention to support the market.

The Nasdaq fell 32. 78 points , or 1. 9 percent, at 1, 666. 88.

It fell 7. 77 points , or 0. 49 percent, to 1, 592. 21.

In relation to the rest of the country, however, the share of the top six cities fell by 2.5 percentage points .

She was proved wrong, but when her prediction first became known, the Dow fell 44 points .

What do you call it when the Dow Jones falls 554 points in less than a day?

Its yield, a sensitive gauge of forecasts for growth and inflation, fell 4 basis points to 5. 97 percent.

price

If Hydro trials prove successful and it is included on more Chafer sprayers, the price is likely to fall considerably.

If share prices fall over that time, a safety net guarantees you will get your money back.

Wireless's share price fell as much as 5 pence to 453.

Now the price has fallen and future purchases by discount houses will be at the new, lower rate.

Demand is so slow that the price index fell to 40. 8 % in December from 44. 5 %.

Their prices might fall , hurting commodity producers.

Worldwide, stock prices fell in dollar terms.

production

Officials blamed the fall on a collapse in the stock market, lower industrial production and falling domestic investment.

Sugar production fell to a record low of 129,920 tonnes in 1990 and bauxite production was 15 percent below target.

With production falling , factories stop ordering new equipment.

Agricultural production fell by 10.8 percent, largely due to the effects of the country's worst drought in 50 years.

Summer grain production this year has fallen by nearly 10 %, according to the ministry of agriculture.

Many analysts expect production to fall again in 1996.

profit

Special engineering activities suffered with the depressed aerospace and defence markets, profits falling from £14 million to £12 million.

Each warned after the stock market closed on Friday that profits will fall below analysts' forecasts.

Operating profit fell to £10.5m from £11.1m in 1991.

Operating profit fell an undisclosed amount.

First half profit before tax fell by 12% to £44.5m at Laporte; eps fell by 6% to 18.8p.

In 1995 pretax profit fell 6. 51 percent to 21. 97 billion pesetas.

Taxable profits fell from £7.81m to £1.17m in the year to 30 June on group sales down about £20m to £91m.

rain

The camera watches, looking in and looking out. Rain falls through the shell of the echoing house.

A deluge of tropical rain fell on us an hour later.

The rain had started to fall and the mechanics were busy preparing the machine for what would be a wet race.

The 0. 01 inch of rain that fell in the Valley in December was the least for that month since 1981.

The sky was low and pregnant with rain which would fall as soon as the wind dropped.

The rain fell on empty streets.

A steady gray rain was falling .

rate

First the rate fell from 6.2 rubles to the dollar to 6.5.

Indeed, many investors believe that long-term interest rates could fall to 5. 5 % in the coming months.

Yet the jobless rate is falling sharply.

The unemployment rate fell to 4. 9 percent, a 23-year low, in April.

The rate may fall below that, depending on the general trend of interest rates.

Short-term rates fell to below 2 % from 4 %.

If the inflation rate subsequently falls below the level allowed for a surplus of funds may result.

New bond issues rose as interest rates fell during the last three months of 1995.

sale

It widened still further in the 1980s as sales of the Mirror fell .

Even Talbots same-store sales fell an unexpected 4. 7 percent.

By the mid-Seventies sales had fallen dramatically.

The company blamed weak sales and falling chip prices for its microprocessors.

Estimates suggest that since then, the number of house sales has fallen by about 40 percent.

Comparable-store sales fell 0. 9 % for this period, Roberds said.

Thanks to recession, total domestic sales of personal computers fell by 8% in the year to March.

Orders slowed, causing sales to fall off dramatically.

share

Bank shares fell 0. 87 percent as a group.

Earnings per share fell to 15.6p from 24.1p but the 1991 dividend total of 14.85p per share is to be maintained.

Motorola shares fell 3 1 / 4 to 53.

Goldman Sachs's shares fell 5 % after it announced the sale of 40m shares held by former partners.

The shares have been falling since September, when they traded at nearly 60.

Earnings per share fell by 99.7% to 0.3 pence.

Inverness shares fell 1 / 8 to 8 1 / 8.

snow

Outside snow began to fall in large fat flakes.

Outside, a light snow had begun to fall , whitening the streets with downy flakes.

Heavy snow had fallen in Frome the day before that, the deepest since 1767, and conditions were dismal.

And for a very few minutes I listen to the whisper of tiny tinkling snow crystals falling now in ever denser sheets.

No more snow had fallen , the sky was still overcast but the air was crisp and a little warmer.

Around noon, the snow started falling again.

Snow to go: Weathermen predict no more snow will fall in the region over the coming days.

Some 65 inches of snow have fallen on the city so far this winter, he said.

temperature

As the temperature falls the process slows, and below 10oC the development from egg to L3 usually can not take place.

In response, body temperature falls , metabolism slows, and we prepare to drop off.

When temperatures fall to freezing, they're ready to go.

In fact, areas where the outdoor temperature routinely falls to about 15 degrees are not good candidates for heat pumps.

As core temperature starts to fall , self-regulating mechanisms start to restore equilibrium.

The temperature had fallen below zero.

The moors got higher, the weather worsened, and temperatures fell .

Hypothermia weakens muscles and slows heart rate, which may stop if body temperature falls below 90 degrees.

trap

At least Morton would never fall into that trap ... But it was all moonshine.

I tried to empathize with their own differing emotional reactions and the fact that they were falling into their own traps again.

They shouldn't fall into the Spurs trap of mounting debts and asset-stripping sales of star players.

They are waiting to see if you fall into the trap .

During the 90s Washington fell into the trap of allowing events to dictate the relationship, with increasingly destabilising results.

Duffy refuses to fall into the trap of spoon-feeding the material to passive students, which only increases their passivity.

The tendency to keep falling into the subjectivity trap usually brings with it a tendency to confuse goals with methods.

One who thinks she fell into that trap is 76-year-old Josephine Woods.

unemployment

The unemployment rate fell to 4. 9 percent, a 23-year low, in April.

There has been a return to growth, and unemployment is falling .

In 1996, unemployment in the region fell below 4 percent for the first time in years.

Mr. Corbyn Unemployment may well have fallen since 1987, but it has increased a great deal in the past year.

The Minister will be pleased to know that unemployment in my constituency fell by 41 last month.

For example, it forecast an increase in unemployment of 3,000 for 1986-87; in fact unemployment fell by 6,800.

Hitting the Poor the Hardest Unemployment does not fall gently and evenly across the whole population.

■ VERB

begin

A light rain began to fall .

In poor countries, however, incomes did not rise as death rates began to fall .

Then, suddenly, I step off a ledge and begin to fall .

Even as he looked the first drops of rain began to fall , whipped into a flurry by a chill little wind.

Attendance at the mission began to fall off.

As he walked along, light rain began to fall .

Outside, the first snow had begun falling .

let

Swarf smiled in triumph, letting the body fall on to the ground.

Those on a losing streak will jump from casino to casino, letting the chips fall where they may.

Twist some lengths of red ribbon and let them fall down the sides of the cake.

The rector noticed that Cynthia Coppersmith was letting her tears fall without shame.

Maureen hefted a bright chain and let it fall to the counter.

Roy shrugged off his own coat while still sitting, letting it fall over the back of his chair.

Would they let him fall into our arms if they thought he knew important things?

rise

It was as if the sounds were rising and falling with a supernatural air current.

A total of 312 shares rose , 494 fell , and 337 were unchanged.

It would not be expected to depend particularly on the frequency, the rate at which the waves rose and fell .

Across the table, Pearl rose and fell in her chair like she kept seeing something out on the water.

In deep antiquity, vast, sprawling empires rose and fell , usually the result of happenstance rather than deliberation.

Hsu Fu rose and fell on big, though not yet dangerous, seas.

He had grey hair and a black moustache which rose and fell as he breathed.

Strange and beautiful and terrible empires rose and fell , and passed on their knowledge to their successors.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a fallen woman

She was a fallen woman, and her hair knew it.

Whatever she can urge in mitigation, she is a fallen woman for the rest of her life.

be coming/falling apart at the seams

The country's whole economy is coming apart at the seams .

be/fall head over heels in love

It wasn't just the usual liaison: the two of them fell head over heels in love.

be/fall hopelessly in love (with sb)

And, unknown to her father, I fell hopelessly in love with her.

I was too afraid of falling hopelessly in love with this protégé of Yukio Mishima, whose marvellous homoerotic poems I translated.

James Pawsey, the Tory member for Rugby, also appeared to be hopelessly in love.

She was falling hopelessly in love with the man.

be/fall prey to sb/sth

After a convincing win in game 1 Kasparov fell prey to overconfidence, losing games 4 and 5.

All these animals, and others, had fallen prey to the apprentice hunters.

It really seems as if some drivers fall prey to a death wish when freezing fog descends.

Now, once again, the thin reed of refugee protection has fallen prey to the winds of political expediency.

The magnificent castle was doomed to fall prey to the hand of desolation.

The older trees grow spindly and, their immune systems weakened, fall prey to infestation of beetles and disease.

These refugees fell prey to marauding gangs, even to troopers, or to one another.

With aid supplies almost always out of reach, the boys became weak, and stragglers fell prey to wild animals.

fall apart

fall asleep

Dad always falls asleep in front of the TV after Sunday lunch.

Has Monica fallen asleep yet?

Her three-year-old daughter fell asleep while we talked.

I must have fallen asleep with the light on last night.

One in seven road accidents is caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

Al Gore falls asleep as he makes maiden speech as Vice-President; no-one notices - they're all asleep too.

Had they fallen asleep , the firemen say, not one of them would have survived.

He falls asleep in the chair, wakes up startled, afraid for a moment to move.

He fell asleep dreaming though that Rupert Quashie went to the beach and pushed Collymore down with his gun.

He seemed to fall asleep , leaning heavily on to Cameron.

I'd fallen asleep , and now I was awake.

I fell asleep , and the next thing I knew, some one was waking me.

Suddenly he gave a frightened start, for he had nearly fallen asleep and the ground below seemed a long distance away.

fall flat

But the hopes fell flat , and private funding for vaccine work is drying up.

He has been Navajo president for one year, and his efforts to decentralize tribal government so far have fallen flat .

However, if your suggestion falls flat , he may not be ready to try another until the 21st century.

Yet there are certain composers who fall flat on their face unless the adrenalin really start to flow.

fall flat on your/sth's face

She fell flat on her face getting out of the car.

The last time I wore high-heeled shoes I fell flat on my face outside a restaurant.

As we were going out to the car Babe slipped and fell flat on her face.

At last, after several near misses, I fall flat on my face.

Because if you don't a fresh ambition or optimistic plan will fall flat on its face.

But once the ball tips, the game falls flat on its face faster than a top-ranked team after a first-round upset.

It is also a nation waiting for her to fall flat on her face.

Writers strive for a universal experience distilled from personal memories and tend to fall flat on their faces.

Yet there are certain composers who fall flat on their face unless the adrenalin really start to flow.

fall into line/bring sb into line

fall into place

Another piece of the jigsaw had just fallen into place .

But just in time, it fell into place .

I am like the painter of that mosaic, the small pieces are falling into place and I need your help.

Mechanisms to ensure gender balance in appointed government bodies were also falling into place .

That was our greatest moment together, I think, the moment when our whole future fell into place at last.

The route had by now fallen into place .

Yet it was not until researchers extended the same effort to the oceans that the bigger tectonic picture fell into place .

fall into ruin

The 18th century mansion has fallen into ruin .

In 1685 the castle was burnt by the Duke of Argyll and fell into ruin .

Miles of poverty with modern adobe dwellings either being built or falling into ruin .

Unemployment runs at more than 50 %, and most factories have fallen into ruin .

fall into step (with sb)

Instead he fell into step , and they went on from there.

Once again, Blue falls into step with Black, perhaps even more harmoniously than before.

She walked to the door, trying her hardest to ignore the man who fell into step beside her.

The Clinton administration, after some hesitation, fell into step behind Paris.

The great horse Koulash galloped forward to join the Tsar's horses, and fell into step with them.

The senator fell into step beside me while some of Bonefish's smaller children followed at a safe distance.

They fell into step on the slush-covered path.

fall into/avoid the trap of doing sth

But do not fall into the trap of doing something I saw recently.

Don't fall into the trap of comparing your wages and conditions with other volunteers and development workers.

Duffy refuses to fall into the trap of spoon-feeding the material to passive students, which only increases their passivity.

During the 90s Washington fell into the trap of allowing events to dictate the relationship, with increasingly destabilising results.

Journalists can fall into the trap of being hypercritical.

She was not going to fall into the trap of thinking she wanted Vitor as Vitor.

So answer this question truthfully, lest your smart organization fall into the trap of continuing to outsmart itself.

When we tie it to jobs, or to survival needs, we fall into the trap of mechanistic literacy.

fall off the wagon

fall on deaf ears

As rioting continued, Mayor Warren appealed for calm, but his words fell on deaf ears.

His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.

The workers' demand for a wage increase has fallen on deaf ears.

Their requests fell on deaf ears.

Arguments that some of the skills practised by pupils are obsolete fall on deaf ears, or are heeded only very slowly.

But my suggestions fell on deaf ears.

Invitations by Paredes to the various governors to second his plan fell on deaf ears.

Pleas that the couple and their two young children will be homeless and facing financial ruin have fallen on deaf ears.

They formulated a programme of demands, but these fell on deaf ears in Petrograd.

Those words fell on deaf ears.

Until Friday, such complaints appeared to fall on deaf ears at the Treasury.

fall on stony ground

Alan's charming smile fell on stony ground with her.

Joseph's words fell on stony ground.

Some initiatives have already fallen on stony ground, but, as we see in subsequent features, others keep coming.

Their marriages had fallen on stony ground but it seemed to me there was still hope.

fall short of sth

Anything less than this is a measure of the extent to which the research falls short of scientific standards.

By 1951 the Labour government had built 900,000 houses, falling short of its target of 240,000 dwellings a year.

Even in the best of years, Journal news coverage inevitably falls short of perfection.

On the other hand, if the firm falls short of covering its fixed costs, a loss will be incurred.

Reality has a way of falling short of the ideal.

The results fell short of eight analysts' forecasts of profit between 130 million and 127 million pounds.

The trainers suggest that, as guards, they fell short of expectations.

fall to pieces

If reforms are not carried out soon, the economy will simply fall to pieces .

Stacy would fall to pieces if she knew Gary was cheating on her.

The vase fell to pieces as soon as it hit the floor.

After he left, I fell to pieces .

As a result, now that the autumn rains were here, it was already showing signs of falling to pieces .

He hated playing agony aunt but he couldn't afford to have Hirschfeldt falling to pieces .

I suppose it's just about falling to pieces .

Supposing the union fell to pieces , these were the fracture lines along which it would naturally break.

The house was filthy, she realized, practically falling to pieces .

The media seemed to be willing the marriage to fall to pieces .

The Soviet Union is falling to pieces; a bloody struggle for those pieces can not be ruled out.

fall victim to sb/sth

And dying for a drink.The badger falls victim to the drought.

Bill Vaughan, returned the favor last year after the Baptist church fell victim to arson.

Don't allow yourself to fall victim to self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even Jim Harrick fell victim to the mood.

For one thing, government economic statistics have fallen victim to the fiscal paralysis in Washington.

Many of you who do use your talents and prosper in the business may fall victim to its pressures.

Not one has ever fallen victim to a gangland-style hit after coming forward with solid information.

Numbers of large mammals, including elephants, will have fallen victim to booby traps and land-mines.

fall/collapse etc in a heap

Ace, Defries and Bernice fell in a heap .

Graham never saw what hit him, and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Sure enough, the Mean Machine runs the same play again and Budanski collapses in a heap , not breathing.

The foreigner stumbled on a few steps, his brains leaking out around his earphones, and collapsed in a heap .

The gallant commander and his horse fell in a heap ... the horse dead, the rider unhurt.

The lion fell in a heap , and she got a steel knee on top of it.

Who knew when she might collapse in a heap of baubles and bangles?

fall/get into the wrong hands

A crossed cheque therefore gives some protection against fraud if it falls into the wrong hands.

And images of Kurds on tape could fall into the wrong hands.

But some gun dealers have stopped selling replicas, because they're worried about them falling into the wrong hands.

Cards falling into the wrong hands cost the industry three hundred pounds every minute.

I will never allow Kirsty to fall into the wrong hands.

Pentagon officials say they have already had some success reducing the risk that nuclear materials will fall into the wrong hands.

Voice over Mr Foulkes is seeking Government safeguards to prevent Rayo from falling into the wrong hands.

fall/land on your feet

After some ups and downs, young Mr Davison has landed on his feet .

Even in an industry that shrinks faster than microwave bacon, the good people landed on their feet .

Forgive the cliché, but for once I have fallen on my feet .

He pushed the floor, and flipped over in the air, landing on his feet .

However he landed on his feet .

Jonathon is a trained musician filling in as a cleaner between jobs and he fell on his feet at the Oxford Playhouse.

This is a company that tends to land on its feet .

fall/slip through the net

Even with the former region's history of testing in primaries, children continue to slip through the net .

Graham, on the other hand, had nearly slipped through the net .

In a child-centred class of 30 children it is easy for some to slip through the net and learn nothing.

No one knows how many have slipped through the net .

One group still fell through the net .

Paul Merton slipped through the net .

This one slipped through the net .

in one fell swoop

A single company can eliminate 74,000 jobs in one fell swoop.

Can you imagine it, to have grown up insane and then in one fell swoop to achieve sanity?

Compton had not been laid out, like Lakewood, in one fell swoop.

Despite the drop-off, analysts said they were encouraged by the elimination of the securities in one fell swoop.

I think it might solve the whole problem in one fell swoop.

The most difficult thing afoot is to keep our problem child from blowing it in one fell swoop.

it fell off the back of a lorry

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

the bottom drops/falls out of the market

the fallen

the roof falls/caves in

The Warriors were leading, with only a few minutes of the game to go, when the roof fell in.

It may not be long before the roof falls in.

the scales fell from sb's eyes

It's high time the scales fell from our eyes, and our bathrooms.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

A light rain was falling.

A shadow fell across his face, hiding his expression.

A tree had fallen across the road and blocked it.

Aston Villa fell 3 places in the league after their defeat by Barnsley.

Bombs fell on the streets, destroying neighbouring homes, but leaving the school intact.

Careful that box doesn't fall on you, Charlotte!

Darkness fell on the town and the streetlights came on one by one.

Don't worry - I'll catch you if you fall .

Fred fell out of the tree and broke his arm.

George held on tightly, afraid that he might fall .

He reportedly fell in battle on June 17th.

I can't find my passport - it must have fallen out of my pocket.

I sat in bed, listening to the rain fall .

Just as we were about to leave the house, rain began to fall .

Katie fell and scraped her knee.

Leaves were falling from the trees.

Maria's hair fell over her shoulders.

One of the climbers fell fifty feet.

She opened the cupboard and everything fell out.

She was going up the stairs when she fell.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

A man tall and princely-looking was sitting by the hearth where the firelight fell full on him.

He remembered Hause Point, he remembered the abyss he had so often fallen into.

It is mature and spontaneous utterance falling like ripe leaves on a still day in the fall of the year.

Its price fell 75 yen per 50, 000 in face value.

Mabel Boll was exactly the kind of person upon whom Guest was determined the mantle of fame would not fall .

Mukhamedov's defection two years ago, just as Communism was falling apart, will not be forgiven in a hurry.

One of the glasses had fallen on to its side and a red stain had spread from it on to the tablecloth.

She watched the keys fall , noting that they fell more slowly than they would have done on the Earth.

II. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

bad

You will forgive him using but he had a bad fall yesterday and has damaged his ankle.

Moceanu took a bad fall midway through her routine on the beam.

You took a bad fall - twenty feet, maybe - almost vertical.

This impasse was made worse by continued falls in copper prices until the mid-1980s.

dramatic

The most striking change between 1975 and 1988 has been the dramatic fall in youth employment from 60% to 20%.

Most domestic items, particularly those made of wood show a dramatic fall after the mid-seventeenth century.

Perhaps the most dramatic fall from grace was the case of Hu Yaobang.

free

Thus we have verified that a transformation to a frame in free fall is always possible. 6.7.

It is emphasized here that there is no rotation in a frame in free fall .

The northeastern flank is the lowest, but still promises 500 feet of free fall .

Wild speculation, low margin requirements and sheer panic triggered the free fall that set off the Great Depression.

In free fall , only the force of gravity is acting so the body is not in compression.

But as they go into production the stock exchanges go into free fall .

last

When they met in Paris last fall , they knew they were made for each other.

Since Richard left for California last fall , my bank account has grown by leaps and bounds.

Compared to last fall , maybe a little.

Preliminary evidence of lapses at Penn emerged after Gelsinger's death last fall .

sharp

An inadequate person in a job can lead to a sharp fall in morale or sales.

The first and most striking thing about these figures is the sharp fall which they show.

And unemployment generally brings a sharp fall in income.

There has been a sharp fall in the number of reported rapes involving strangers; these account for 12 % of attacks.

As a result we have seen a sharp fall in the numbers who sleep rough on our streets.

This period has seen a sharp fall in the average rate of growth as compared to the earlier post-war experience.

However, in April there were further sharp falls in the price of shares and the value of the yen.

However, a sharp fall in the dollar would be awkward for the Fed.

steep

Whether the steep falls of yesterday turn into something more serious remains to be seen.

Separately, shares in forestry companies declined amid forecasts of a steep fall in cellulose prices, analysts said.

The steep fall in interest rates over the past two years has boosted their operating profits enormously.

The latter's performance is attributed to steep falls in smoking.

Two rival companies, Toshiba and Hitachi, saw a steep fall in profits.

■ NOUN

campaign

Clinton, 49, has not sought directly to exploit the age issue in the fall campaign .

Better perhaps to leave these choices to the next president, and encourage further debate in the fall campaign .

They come from states that Clinton carried in 1992, which will again be battlegrounds in the fall campaign .

Cisneros said that he would continue his efforts during the fall campaign to enlist Hispanic support for Clinton.

In fact, the two have staked out their own separate areas of the fall campaign .

guy

To this end, one of the younger Communist shop stewards in the plot had agreed to be the fall guy .

Beamish, thought Henry, could be the fall guy .

■ VERB

rise

She, of course, becomes agitated and it's so lovely to watch full ripe bosoms rise and fall !

Tax rates rise and fall , but the individual and the business are always treated differently.

Budget costs would rise further, not fall .

The wind blows through the long grasses and the grass seems to rise and fall in waves.

Whether it rises or falls will naturally affect taxation.

In other words, does Y rise or fall consistently as X rises?

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a fallen woman

She was a fallen woman, and her hair knew it.

Whatever she can urge in mitigation, she is a fallen woman for the rest of her life.

be riding for a fall

He seems to be riding for a fall, almost recklessly risk-taking.

be/fall head over heels in love

It wasn't just the usual liaison: the two of them fell head over heels in love.

be/fall hopelessly in love (with sb)

And, unknown to her father, I fell hopelessly in love with her.

I was too afraid of falling hopelessly in love with this protégé of Yukio Mishima, whose marvellous homoerotic poems I translated.

James Pawsey, the Tory member for Rugby, also appeared to be hopelessly in love.

She was falling hopelessly in love with the man.

be/fall prey to sb/sth

After a convincing win in game 1 Kasparov fell prey to overconfidence, losing games 4 and 5.

All these animals, and others, had fallen prey to the apprentice hunters.

It really seems as if some drivers fall prey to a death wish when freezing fog descends.

Now, once again, the thin reed of refugee protection has fallen prey to the winds of political expediency.

The magnificent castle was doomed to fall prey to the hand of desolation.

The older trees grow spindly and, their immune systems weakened, fall prey to infestation of beetles and disease.

These refugees fell prey to marauding gangs, even to troopers, or to one another.

With aid supplies almost always out of reach, the boys became weak, and stragglers fell prey to wild animals.

fall apart

fall asleep

Dad always falls asleep in front of the TV after Sunday lunch.

Has Monica fallen asleep yet?

Her three-year-old daughter fell asleep while we talked.

I must have fallen asleep with the light on last night.

One in seven road accidents is caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

Al Gore falls asleep as he makes maiden speech as Vice-President; no-one notices - they're all asleep too.

Had they fallen asleep , the firemen say, not one of them would have survived.

He falls asleep in the chair, wakes up startled, afraid for a moment to move.

He fell asleep dreaming though that Rupert Quashie went to the beach and pushed Collymore down with his gun.

He seemed to fall asleep , leaning heavily on to Cameron.

I'd fallen asleep , and now I was awake.

I fell asleep , and the next thing I knew, some one was waking me.

Suddenly he gave a frightened start, for he had nearly fallen asleep and the ground below seemed a long distance away.

fall flat

But the hopes fell flat , and private funding for vaccine work is drying up.

He has been Navajo president for one year, and his efforts to decentralize tribal government so far have fallen flat .

However, if your suggestion falls flat , he may not be ready to try another until the 21st century.

Yet there are certain composers who fall flat on their face unless the adrenalin really start to flow.

fall flat on your/sth's face

She fell flat on her face getting out of the car.

The last time I wore high-heeled shoes I fell flat on my face outside a restaurant.

As we were going out to the car Babe slipped and fell flat on her face.

At last, after several near misses, I fall flat on my face.

Because if you don't a fresh ambition or optimistic plan will fall flat on its face.

But once the ball tips, the game falls flat on its face faster than a top-ranked team after a first-round upset.

It is also a nation waiting for her to fall flat on her face.

Writers strive for a universal experience distilled from personal memories and tend to fall flat on their faces.

Yet there are certain composers who fall flat on their face unless the adrenalin really start to flow.

fall into line/bring sb into line

fall into place

Another piece of the jigsaw had just fallen into place .

But just in time, it fell into place .

I am like the painter of that mosaic, the small pieces are falling into place and I need your help.

Mechanisms to ensure gender balance in appointed government bodies were also falling into place .

That was our greatest moment together, I think, the moment when our whole future fell into place at last.

The route had by now fallen into place .

Yet it was not until researchers extended the same effort to the oceans that the bigger tectonic picture fell into place .

fall into ruin

The 18th century mansion has fallen into ruin .

In 1685 the castle was burnt by the Duke of Argyll and fell into ruin .

Miles of poverty with modern adobe dwellings either being built or falling into ruin .

Unemployment runs at more than 50 %, and most factories have fallen into ruin .

fall into step (with sb)

Instead he fell into step , and they went on from there.

Once again, Blue falls into step with Black, perhaps even more harmoniously than before.

She walked to the door, trying her hardest to ignore the man who fell into step beside her.

The Clinton administration, after some hesitation, fell into step behind Paris.

The great horse Koulash galloped forward to join the Tsar's horses, and fell into step with them.

The senator fell into step beside me while some of Bonefish's smaller children followed at a safe distance.

They fell into step on the slush-covered path.

fall into/avoid the trap of doing sth

But do not fall into the trap of doing something I saw recently.

Don't fall into the trap of comparing your wages and conditions with other volunteers and development workers.

Duffy refuses to fall into the trap of spoon-feeding the material to passive students, which only increases their passivity.

During the 90s Washington fell into the trap of allowing events to dictate the relationship, with increasingly destabilising results.

Journalists can fall into the trap of being hypercritical.

She was not going to fall into the trap of thinking she wanted Vitor as Vitor.

So answer this question truthfully, lest your smart organization fall into the trap of continuing to outsmart itself.

When we tie it to jobs, or to survival needs, we fall into the trap of mechanistic literacy.

fall off the wagon

fall on deaf ears

As rioting continued, Mayor Warren appealed for calm, but his words fell on deaf ears.

His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.

The workers' demand for a wage increase has fallen on deaf ears.

Their requests fell on deaf ears.

Arguments that some of the skills practised by pupils are obsolete fall on deaf ears, or are heeded only very slowly.

But my suggestions fell on deaf ears.

Invitations by Paredes to the various governors to second his plan fell on deaf ears.

Pleas that the couple and their two young children will be homeless and facing financial ruin have fallen on deaf ears.

They formulated a programme of demands, but these fell on deaf ears in Petrograd.

Those words fell on deaf ears.

Until Friday, such complaints appeared to fall on deaf ears at the Treasury.

fall on stony ground

Alan's charming smile fell on stony ground with her.

Joseph's words fell on stony ground.

Some initiatives have already fallen on stony ground, but, as we see in subsequent features, others keep coming.

Their marriages had fallen on stony ground but it seemed to me there was still hope.

fall short of sth

Anything less than this is a measure of the extent to which the research falls short of scientific standards.

By 1951 the Labour government had built 900,000 houses, falling short of its target of 240,000 dwellings a year.

Even in the best of years, Journal news coverage inevitably falls short of perfection.

On the other hand, if the firm falls short of covering its fixed costs, a loss will be incurred.

Reality has a way of falling short of the ideal.

The results fell short of eight analysts' forecasts of profit between 130 million and 127 million pounds.

The trainers suggest that, as guards, they fell short of expectations.

fall to pieces

If reforms are not carried out soon, the economy will simply fall to pieces .

Stacy would fall to pieces if she knew Gary was cheating on her.

The vase fell to pieces as soon as it hit the floor.

After he left, I fell to pieces .

As a result, now that the autumn rains were here, it was already showing signs of falling to pieces .

He hated playing agony aunt but he couldn't afford to have Hirschfeldt falling to pieces .

I suppose it's just about falling to pieces .

Supposing the union fell to pieces , these were the fracture lines along which it would naturally break.

The house was filthy, she realized, practically falling to pieces .

The media seemed to be willing the marriage to fall to pieces .

The Soviet Union is falling to pieces; a bloody struggle for those pieces can not be ruled out.

fall victim to sb/sth

And dying for a drink.The badger falls victim to the drought.

Bill Vaughan, returned the favor last year after the Baptist church fell victim to arson.

Don't allow yourself to fall victim to self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even Jim Harrick fell victim to the mood.

For one thing, government economic statistics have fallen victim to the fiscal paralysis in Washington.

Many of you who do use your talents and prosper in the business may fall victim to its pressures.

Not one has ever fallen victim to a gangland-style hit after coming forward with solid information.

Numbers of large mammals, including elephants, will have fallen victim to booby traps and land-mines.

fall/collapse etc in a heap

Ace, Defries and Bernice fell in a heap .

Graham never saw what hit him, and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Sure enough, the Mean Machine runs the same play again and Budanski collapses in a heap , not breathing.

The foreigner stumbled on a few steps, his brains leaking out around his earphones, and collapsed in a heap .

The gallant commander and his horse fell in a heap ... the horse dead, the rider unhurt.

The lion fell in a heap , and she got a steel knee on top of it.

Who knew when she might collapse in a heap of baubles and bangles?

fall/get into the wrong hands

A crossed cheque therefore gives some protection against fraud if it falls into the wrong hands.

And images of Kurds on tape could fall into the wrong hands.

But some gun dealers have stopped selling replicas, because they're worried about them falling into the wrong hands.

Cards falling into the wrong hands cost the industry three hundred pounds every minute.

I will never allow Kirsty to fall into the wrong hands.

Pentagon officials say they have already had some success reducing the risk that nuclear materials will fall into the wrong hands.

Voice over Mr Foulkes is seeking Government safeguards to prevent Rayo from falling into the wrong hands.

fall/land on your feet

After some ups and downs, young Mr Davison has landed on his feet .

Even in an industry that shrinks faster than microwave bacon, the good people landed on their feet .

Forgive the cliché, but for once I have fallen on my feet .

He pushed the floor, and flipped over in the air, landing on his feet .

However he landed on his feet .

Jonathon is a trained musician filling in as a cleaner between jobs and he fell on his feet at the Oxford Playhouse.

This is a company that tends to land on its feet .

fall/slip through the net

Even with the former region's history of testing in primaries, children continue to slip through the net .

Graham, on the other hand, had nearly slipped through the net .

In a child-centred class of 30 children it is easy for some to slip through the net and learn nothing.

No one knows how many have slipped through the net .

One group still fell through the net .

Paul Merton slipped through the net .

This one slipped through the net .

in one fell swoop

A single company can eliminate 74,000 jobs in one fell swoop.

Can you imagine it, to have grown up insane and then in one fell swoop to achieve sanity?

Compton had not been laid out, like Lakewood, in one fell swoop.

Despite the drop-off, analysts said they were encouraged by the elimination of the securities in one fell swoop.

I think it might solve the whole problem in one fell swoop.

The most difficult thing afoot is to keep our problem child from blowing it in one fell swoop.

it fell off the back of a lorry

stand or fall by/on sth

But the argument must stand or fall on its merits.

For the government, acceptance of central planning did not stand or fall on the issue of nationalisation.

It seems that this is a case that will stand or fall on its own particular facts.

Mr Karimov knows that he will stand or fall on his ability to stave off economic collapse.

The school has an outstanding and deserved reputation, which will stand or fall by the testimony of its pupils.

The storyline was always going to stand or fall by the performance of Tim Guinee as Lazar.

The success of the new News at Ten will stand or fall on his relationship with the seven million plus viewers.

Their case would stand or fall on her reliability.

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

the bottom drops/falls out of the market

the fallen

the roof falls/caves in

The Warriors were leading, with only a few minutes of the game to go, when the roof fell in.

It may not be long before the roof falls in.

the scales fell from sb's eyes

It's high time the scales fell from our eyes, and our bathrooms.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

Fall is my favorite season.

I sat listening to the fall of the rain on the roof.

It's a movie about the fall of France in 1940.

It's one of the heaviest falls of snow on record.

There was a dramatic fall in temperature overnight.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Floyd investigated it soon after free fall had begun.

Here, the fall is 48 percent since the objective was introduced.

It seemed that the wind had dropped a little with the fall of night.

Senate attempts to include the provision failed three times last fall when supporters were unable to cut off debate.

The positioning of the stones will determine the type of fall .

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.