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A fall on one's head when riding at full speed, as in hunting; hence, a sudden failure or collapse. [Slang.]

gle. Cross and pile, a game with money, at which it is put to chance whether a coin shall fall with that side up which bears the cross, or the other, which is called pile, or reverse; the game called heads or tails. -- Cross bottony or bottoné. See under Bottony. -- Cross estoilé (Her.). a cross, each of whose arms i…

A cloth to be laid under a dining table to receive falling fragments, and keep the carpet or floor clean. [Written also crumcloth.]

To break into small pieces; to cause to fall in pieces. He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints, And crumble all thy sinews. Milton.

ce, any heavy stick used as a weapon. He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. Bunyan. Cudgel play, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels. -- To cross the cudgels, to forbear or give up the contest; -- a phrase borrowed from the practice of cudgel players, wh…

world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. W. Irving. -- The curtain falls, the performance closes. -- The curtain rises, the performance begins. -- To draw the curtain, to close ot over an object, or to remove it; hence: (a) To hide or to disclose an object. (b) To commence or close a performanc…

ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic. Curtate cycloid. (Math.) See Cycloid.

e, when he raises both his fore legs at once, equally advanced, and, as his fore legs are falling, raises his hind legs, so that all his legs are in the air at once.

To sever and cause to fall for the purpose of gathering; to hew; to mow or reap. Thy servants can skill to cut timer. 2. Chron. ii. 8

who practices dancing. The merry dancers, beams of the northern lights when they rise and fall alternately without any considerable change of length. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora.

hin. Dryden. On each hand the gushing waters play, And down the rough cascade all dashing fall. Thomson.

A pneumatic or hydraulic cushion for a falling weight, as in the valve gear of a steam engine, to prevent shock.

ance of light in the morning; show of approaching sunrise. And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve. Thomson. No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon, No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day. Hood.

A falling away; decay; deterioration; declension. "The old castle, where the family lived in their decadence.' Sir W. Scott.

Fallen, as to physical or social condition; affected with decay; rotten; as, decayed vegetation or vegetables; a decayed fortune or gentleman. -- De*cay"ed*ness, n.

A falling off. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Falling off, or subject to fall or be shed, at a certain season, or a certain stage or interval of growth, as leaves (except of evergreens) in autumn, or as parts of animals, such as hair, teeth, antlers, etc.; also, shedding leaves or parts at certain seasons, stages, or intervals; as, deciduous trees; the deciduous m…

A falling off towards a worse state; a downward tendency; deterioration; decay; as, the declension of virtue, of science, of a state, etc. Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts To base declension. Shak.

The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline. "The declination of monarchy." Bacon. Summer . . . is not looked on as a time Of declination or decay. Waller.

cline even to the lowest of his family. Lady Hutchinson. Disdaining to decline, Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries. Byron. The ground at length became broken and declined rapidly. Sir W. Scott.