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crestfallen

adj
/ˈkɹɛstfɔːlən/UK/ˈkɹɛstfɔlən/US/ˈkɹɛstfɑlən/

Etymology

From crest + fallen, from the appearance of a horse with its crest (head) on its chest after defeat in a battle.

  1. inherited from *fallą✻
  2. inherited from fealle — “trap, snare”
  3. inherited from feall
  4. inherited from fal
  5. inherited from *h₃elh₁-✻ — “to collapse, fall; to destroy”
  6. inherited from *fallaną✻ — “to fall”
  7. inherited from *fallan✻ — “to fall”
  8. inherited from feallan — “to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”
  9. inherited from fallen
  10. suffixed as fallen — “fall + en”
  11. compounded as crestfallen — “crest + fallen”

Definitions

  1. Sad because of a disappointment.

    • Tom's cheeks burned. He gathered himself up and sneaked off, crushed and crestfallen.
    • Gregson looked quite crest-fallen.
    • Hall tried to convey everything by grimaces and dumb show, but Mrs. Hall was obdurate. She raised her voice. So Hall and Henfrey, rather crestfallen, tiptoed back to the bar, gesticulating to explain to her.

  2. Having the crest, or upper part of the neck, hanging to one side.

The neighborhood

Derived

crest-fall, crestfallenly, crestfallenness

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for crestfallen. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA