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• fall line
  fall line

  noun

  an imaginary line, marked by waterfalls and rapids, where rivers descend abruptly from an upland to a lowland.
• Fall Line
  Fall Line

  noun

  a natural junction, running parallel to the E coast of the US, between the hard rocks of the Appalachians and the softer coastal plain, along which rivers form falls and rapids

fall line

American  

noun

1. an imaginary line, marked by waterfalls and rapids, where rivers descend abruptly from an upland to a lowland.

2. Fall Line, (in the eastern United States) the imaginary line between the Piedmont and the Atlantic coastal plain.

3. Skiing. the path of natural descent from one point on a slope to another.

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Fall Line ¹ British  

noun

1. a natural junction, running parallel to the E coast of the US, between the hard rocks of the Appalachians and the softer coastal plain, along which rivers form falls and rapids

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fall line ² British  

noun

1. skiing the natural downward course between two points on a slope

2. the edge of a plateau

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fall line Scientific  

/ fôl /

1. A line connecting the waterfalls of nearly parallel rivers that marks a drop in land level.

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Etymology

Origin of fall line

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fall line Fall Line

And then he turned his skis parallel with the fall line, gathered some speed and started making effortless bouncy turns through the trees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025

The black trails follow the mountain’s fall line for steep, technical descents and mandatory air, including rock slabs.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 29, 2022

It forms part of the Patuxent Formation — named after the eponymous Maryland river — running north-south along the fall line.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2021

On Thursday, a Netflix spokesperson said the company was raising prices “so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films - in addition to our great fall line up.”

From Reuters ● Oct. 29, 2020

Servants who had worked out their time usually became tenants or freeholders, often moving to other colonies and later to the interior beyond the "fall line," where they became pioneers in their turn.

From Our Foreigners A Chronicle of Americans in the Making by Orth, Samuel Peter

Mercer is a native of Alexandria, Va., and serves as president of the Fall Line Consulting firm, which advises companies in the clean energy sector.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2022

On March 12, the couple were wed at Fall Line Station, an events venue in Macon, before 190 guests, all of whom were required to show negative Covid tests before attending.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2022

The road starts to get hilly near Mill­edgeville, as the Antebellum Trail roughly follows the Fall Line, where the elevation drops dramatically before sloping and leveling off to the sea near Savannah.

From Washington Post

Near the head of navigation, shipping centers grew up—among them Alexandria and Georgetown, forerunners of the metropolis that bestrides the river at the Fall Line today.

From The Nation's River A report on the Potomac from the U.S. Department of the Interior by United States. Dept. of the Interior.

As a result, a chain of important river ports extends along the Fall Line from Maine to Florida.

From Commercial Geography A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges by Redway, Jacques W. (Jacques Wardlaw)