I. fell 1 /fel/ BrE AmE
the past tense of ↑ fall
II. fell 2 BrE AmE noun [countable usually plural]
a mountain or hill in the north of England
III. fell 3 BrE AmE verb [transitive usually passive]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: fellan ; related to ⇨ ↑ fall 1 ]
1 . to cut down a tree:
More than 100 trees were felled in just over an hour.
2 . written to knock someone down with great force:
The goalkeeper was felled by a coin thrown from the crowd.
IV. fell 4 BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: fel , from Medieval Latin fello ; ⇨ ↑ felon ]
in one fell swoop ( also at one fell swoop British English ) doing a lot of things at the same time, using only one action SYN in one go :
A single company can close a factory, eliminating 74,000 jobs in one fell swoop.