different between fell vs whack

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English fellen, from Old English fellan, fiellan (“to cause to fall, strike down, fell, cut down, throw down, defeat, destroy, kill, tumble, cause to stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *fallijan? (“to fell, to cause to fall”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fallan? (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)p?l- (“to fall”). Cognate with Dutch vellen (“to fell, cut down”), German fällen (“to fell”), Norwegian felle (“to fell”).

Verb

fell (third-person singular simple present fells, present participle felling, simple past and past participle felled)

1. (transitive) To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree.
2. (transitive) To strike down, kill, destroy.
   • 2016 January 17, "What Weiner Reveals About Huma Abedin," Vanity Fair (retrieved 21 January 2016):

     This Sunday marks the debut of Weiner, a documentary that follows former congressman Anthony Weiner in his attempt to overcome a sexting scandal and run for mayor of New York City—only to be felled, somewhat inexplicably, by another sexting scandal.
3. (sewing) To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
   • 2006, Colette Wolff, The Art of Manipulating Fabric, page 296:

     To fell seam allowances, catch the lining underneath before emerging 1/4" (6mm) ahead, and 1/8" (3mm) to 1/4" (6mm) into the seam allowance.

Translations

Noun

fell (plural fells)

1. A cutting-down of timber.
2. The stitching down of a fold of cloth; specifically, the portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down.
3. (textiles) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fell, fel, vel, from Old English fel, fell (“hide, skin, pelt”), from Proto-Germanic *fell? (compare West Frisian fel, Dutch vel, German Fell), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-no- (“skin, animal hide”) (compare Latin pellis (“skin”), Lithuanian pl?n? (“skin”), Russian ?????? (plená, “pelt”), Albanian plah (“to cover”), Ancient Greek ?????? (péll?s, “skin”)). Related to film and pell.

Noun

fell (plural fells)

2. An animal skin, hide, pelt.
   • c. 1599 Shakespeare: As You Like It: Act 3 Sc.3 L. 35

     Why, we are still handling our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy.

3. Human skin (now only as a metaphorical use of previous sense).
   • c. 1390, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:

     For he is fader of feith · fourmed ?ow alle / Bothe with fel and with face.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Old Norse fell, fjall (“rock, mountain”), compare Norwegian Bokmål fjell 'mountain', from Proto-Germanic *felz?, *fel(e)zaz, *falisaz (compare German Felsen 'boulder, cliff', Middle Low German vels 'hill, mountain'), from Proto-Indo-European *pelso; compare Irish aill (“boulder, cliff”), Ancient Greek ????? (pélla, “stone”), Pashto ????? (par??a, “rock, rocky ledge”), Sanskrit ????? (p????á, “stone”). Doublet of fjeld.

Noun

fell (plural fells)

1. (archaic outside Britain) A rocky ridge or chain of mountains.
   • 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

     The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, / While hammers fell like ringing bells, / In places deep, where dark things sleep, / In hollow halls beneath the fells.

   • 1971 Catherine Cookson, The Dwelling Place

     She didn't know at first why she stepped off the road and climbed the bank on to the fells; it wasn't until she found herself skirting a disused quarry that she realised where she was making for, and when she reached the place she stood and gazed at it. It was a hollow within an outcrop of rock, not large enough to call a cave but deep enough to shelter eight people from the rain, and with room to spare.

2. (archaic outside Britain) A wild field or upland moor.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 11 p. 174[5]:

     As over Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell;

Derived terms

• Low Fell

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”), from Proto-Indo-European *pol- (“to pour, flow, swim, fly”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Middle Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), German Low German fell (“rash, swift”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”), Middle High German v?lant (“imp”). See felon.

Adjective

fell (comparative feller, superlative fellest)

1. Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act II scene vi^[6]:

     […] While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.

   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2

     And many a serpent of fell kind, / With wings before, and stings behind
2. (Britain dialectal, Scotland) Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent
3. (Britain dialectal, Scotland) Very large; huge.
4. (obsolete) Eager; earnest; intent.

   • I am so fell to my business.

Translations

Adverb

fell (comparative more fell, superlative most fell)

1. Sharply; fiercely.

Derived terms

• fellness

Etymology 5

Perhaps from Latin fel (“gall, poison, bitterness”), or more probably from the adjective above.

Noun

fell (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, rare) Anger; gall; melancholy.

Etymology 6

Noun

fell

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

Etymology 7

Verb

fell

1. simple past tense of fall
2. (now colloquial) past participle of fall

Further reading

• Fell (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Fell in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *spesla, metathesized form of *spelsa, from Proto-Indo-European *pels (“rock, boulder”), variant of *spel- (“to cleave, break”). Compare Latin hydronym Pelso, Latin Palatium, Pashto ????? (parša, “rock, rocky ledge”), Ancient Greek ????? (pélla, “stone”), German Felsen (“boulder, cliff”). Mostly dialectal, used in Gheg Albanian.

Adverb

fell

1. deep, shallow

Derived terms

• fellë

Related terms

• fyell

Icelandic

Etymology

Old Norse fjall (“mountain”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?tl/
• Rhymes: -?tl

Noun

fell n (genitive singular fells, nominative plural fell)

1. isolated hill, isolated mountain

Declension

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

fell

1. imperative of felle

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

fell

1. present of falle

Etymology 2

Verb

fell

1. imperative of fella

Old English

Alternative forms

• fel

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *fell, whence also Old High German vel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fell/, [fe?]

Noun

fell n

1. fell
2. skin

English

Etymology

Uncertain. Originally Scottish. Probably onomatopoeic, although possibly a variant of thwack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wæk/
• (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /?æk/
• Rhymes: -æk
• Homophone: wack (accents with the wine-whine merger)

Noun

whack (plural whacks)

1. The sound of a heavy strike.
2. The strike itself.
3. The stroke itself, regardless of its successful impact.
4. (US, slang) An attempt, a chance, a turn, a go, originally an attempt to beat someone or something.

   C'mon. Take a whack at it.

   40 bucks a whack.

5. (originally Britain cant, dated) A share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.
   • 1906, Jack London, White Fang, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 16,^[1]

     “It’s damned tame, whatever it is, comin’ in here at feedin’ time an’ gettin’ its whack of fish.”

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: Appleton, Chapter VII, page 108,^[2]

     “ […] O'Cannon's a taxpayer. He pays his whack towards the upkeep of the State School up in town—”

   • 1951, Katherine Mansfield, Letters to John Middleton Murry, 1913-1922,

     For one thing I had a splendid supper when I got on board—a whack of cold, lean beef and pighells, bread, butter ad lib., tea, and plenty of good bread.

   • 2014, Anthony Pritchard, Grand Prix Ferrari (page 203)

     There were problems over the installation of the engine and the handling. The team had paid top whack for the two Coopers, but the company gave them no help at all.

6. (obsolete) A whack-up: a division of an amount into separate whacks, a divvying up.
7. (US, obsolete) A deal, an agreement.
   • 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Ch. vi, page 70:

     "I'll stay if you will."
     "Good—that's a whack."

   It's a whack!

8. (typography, computing, slang) The backslash, ??\??.

   del c:\docs\readme.txt

   Delete c colon whack docs whack readme dot text.

Derived terms

• full whack
• have a whack at
• out of whack
• take a whack at
• top whack
• wacky
• whack up, whack-up

Translations

Verb

whack (third-person singular simple present whacks, present participle whacking, simple past and past participle whacked)

1. To hit, slap or strike.
   • G. W. Cable

     Rodsmen were whacking their way through willow brakes.

2. (slang) To kill, bump off.
3. (transitive, slang) To share or parcel out (often with up).

   to whack the spoils of a robbery

   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, London: G. Newbold, Volume 2, p. 152,

     When the sewer-hunters consider they have searched long enough […] the gang […] count out the money they have picked up, and proceed to dispose of the old metal, bones, rope, &c.; this done, they then, as they term it, “whack” the whole lot; that is, they divide it equally among all hands.

4. (sports) To beat convincingly; to thrash.
   • 2012, Ryan Pyette, Majors, Panthers play mind games, The London Free Press:

     The fidgety Majors were whacked 9-1 by the Kitchener Panthers at Couch and now trail their rivals 2-0 in an increasingly uncomfortable best-of-seven Intercounty Baseball League first-round series.

5. (Britain, chiefly in the negative) To surpass; to better.
   • 2012, Steve Cullen, Total Flyfisher:

     Recently I was over in Ireland, I love the place, proper fishing, can't whack it!

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:kill

Derived terms

• whack off
• whack the illy

Translations

Adjective

whack (comparative whacker, superlative whackest)

1. Alternative form of wack (“crazy”)

   That's whack, yo!

   • 2007, Joyce E. Davis, Can't Stop The Shine, page 51:

     As they joked about the big butts on female celebrities and what rappers had the whackest lyrics, Malcolm paid little attention to Kalia besides squeezing her hand or grabbing her arm to hold himself up […]

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "whack, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1923.