[f. WATER sb. + FALL sb.; OE. had wæterʓefeall. Cf. G. wasserfall, -gefäll(e, ON. vatnfall.]
1. A more or less perpendicular descent of water from a height over a ledge of rock or precipice; a cascade, cataract.
998. Crawford Charters (1895), 21. Æfter heafdon to þam waterʓefeal æfter streame.
[1372. in Shropsh. Arch. Soc. Trans., Ser. III. IV. 225. Johannes de Watrefal.]
14[?]. Newminster Cartul. (Surtees), 63. Sicud Derestrete vadit inter Filton et Toland usque ad Waterfal, et a Waterfal per Slade.
1421. Inquisition, in Hutchinson, Durham (1787), II. 381. Villa de Langley & le waterfall.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 21. This River hath foure great water fals.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 343. A noise … as of a mighty cataract or waterfall.
1838. Lytton, Leila, I. iii. The silver tinkling of waterfalls chimed melodiously within the gardens.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. vii. 50. The ice cascade … appeared … like the foam of a waterfall.
transf. 1889. Stevenson, Master of Ballantrae, ix. 252. When … we lay becalmed … in a gasping heat, which was presently exchanged for a surprising waterfall of rain.
Comb. 1867. MacGregor, ‘Rob Roy’ in Baltic, 123. Numerous wheels, with waterfall spray rising slowly in the morning air.
2. Such an inclination of the ground as will facilitate the fall or drainage of water.
1522. in Exch. Rolls Scot., XV. 601. Terras Thome Haithry … ex parte occidentali et in longitudine caude ascendendo prope caput montis et le watterfaw earundem.
1590. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 611/2. The saidis landis of Schoirthoip streikand south as the hill or wattir fall thairof gais to the landis of Dalgleis. Ibid. (1603), 506/2. Passing as the water fall upoun the braaheid gangis [to] the merchis of Brumehous.
1766. Complete Farmer, s.v. Flax, But in some parts of the country, a sufficiency of water and water-fall is not to be met with.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 73. Caused by want of waterfall, its only efficient remedy would be [etc.].
† 3. A swift stream tumbling in a rocky bed, a rapid. Obs.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 366. To fire the Brambles, snare the Birds, and steep In wholsom Water-falls the woolly Sheep.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 122/1. You may level a Torrent or Water-fall by laying a barrier across the Stream.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. viii. 218. The complicated beauties which occurred in this extraordinary water-fall.
4. Coal-mining. A special ‘head’ of water to be turned down a pit-shaft when needed.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 33. A stream of water with a waterfall of about half the depth of the pit is necessary, if any business of consequence must be done.
1860. Ure’s Dict. Arts (ed. 5), III. 957. This distribution was often fraught with such danger, that a torrent of water had to be kept in readiness, under the name of the waterfall, to be let down to extinguish the fire in a moment.
1867. W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 209. The waterfall, formed by turning a special stream into the downcast shalt, or by allowing the pump-cisterns to run over, is a useful auxiliary, especially for driving in air after an accident.
5. A neckcloth, scarf or tie with long pendant ends. ? Obs.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxvi. Benjamin, the Jew money-lender,… dressed in a gaudy figured satin waistcoat and waterfall.
6. A chignon; also, a wave of hair falling down the neck below the chignon or net. (Orig. U.S.)
1866. Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, iii. The brown silk net … had given way all at once into a great hole under the waterfall, and the soft hair would fret itself through.
1875. Spectator (Melbourne), 22 May, 27/2. The young lady that affects waterfalls, the Grecian bend, or the kangaroo hop.
1890. Daily News, 1 Sept., 5/3. Human hair … goes through long processes of purification before it is made up into the wigs, chignons, waterfalls, &c.
