fall line

noun

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

(initial capital letters) Eastern U.S. the imaginary line between the Piedmont and the Atlantic coastal plain.

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

Origin of fall line

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fall line

conform

Examples from the Web for fall line

Historical Examples of fall line

Great tracts of wilderness separated communities beyond the fall-line of the rivers.
Union and Democracy
Allen Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for fall line

fall line

noun

skiing the natural downward course between two points on a slope

the edge of a plateau

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

fall line in Science

fall line

[fôl]

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