waterfall

From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water +‎ fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtəfɔːl/
• (US) enPR: wôʹtər-fôl, IPA^(key): /ˈwɔtɚfɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑtɚfɑl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

waterfall (plural waterfalls)

1. A flow of water over the edge of a cliff.

   Synonyms: cataract, cascade, falls

2. (figuratively) A waterfall-like outpouring of liquid, smoke, etc.

   A waterfall of mist came from the open freezer.

3. (technical, computing, slang) Waterfall model

   A very long duration project […] had taken a whole group of people through a painful waterfall development process.

4. (slang, US) The action of drinking from a vessel without touching it with the lips, considered more sanitary for a shared vessel.

   Hey man, can I take a waterfall from your bottle?

5. (colloquial, dated) A necktie.
6. (colloquial, dated) A chignon.
7. (colloquial, dated) A beard.
   • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC:

     I found home a dreary place after my long absence; for half the children I had known were now wearing whiskers or waterfalls […]

• (flow of water over the edge a cliff): cascade, cataract, sault

waterfall (third-person singular simple present waterfalls, present participle waterfalling, simple past and past participle waterfalled)

1. (intransitive) To fall like a waterfall.
   • 1994, Nora Roberts, Private Scandals, page 54:

     Rain ran off the bill of his fielder's cap and waterfalled in front of his face.

   • 1999, Jane Yolen with Bruce Coville, Armageddon Summer, page 79:

     Zondra, whose dirty-blond hair waterfalled above her head from a colorful tie, gave a snorting, horsey kind of laugh.

   • 2008, John Gardner, No Human Enemy, page 156:

     they turned into the drive of The Manor with its red-brick front and the wonderful cloak of Virginia creeper waterfalling down between the windows.

2. (transitive) To drink (something) from a container by pouring it from a height so as not to touch one's lips to the rim.
3. (roller derby) Synonym of recycle

• waterfalled
• waterfalling

• cloudfall
• icefall
• smokefall
• forcefall