bifallen

• befalle, bifalle, byfalle
• bevalle (Kent); beffallen (Norfolk); bi-valle (Somerset)

Inherited from Old English befeallan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifallan; by surface analysis, bi- +‎ fallen.

• IPA^(key): /biˈfalən/

bifallen (third-person singular simple present bifalleth, present participle bifallynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative bifel, past participle bifallen)

1. (ambitransitive, sometimes impersonal) To occur or happen; to take place. [with on or of or to or direct object]
   • c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “[Prologue]”, in [Piers Plowman, A Treatise on Sin] (W, B-text), London, published c. 1400, →OCLC, folio 1, recto; republished as Thorlac Turville-Petre, Hoyt N. Duggan, editors, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.15.17 (The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive; 2), SEENET, 2014, →ISBN:

     Ac on a May moꝛwenẏnge. on Malu͛ne hılles. / Me bıfel a ferlẏ. of ffaırẏe me þoȝte.

     Now on a May morning, in the Malvern Hills, / A surprise happened to me; I thought it [was] from Fairyland.

   • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “Here Bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunt́burẏ”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 2, recto, lines 19-20:

     Bıfel þ^t ın that seſo͞u on a daẏ / In Southwerk at the Tabard / as .I. laẏ […]

     It occurred during that season one day / In Southwark at the Tabard while I lay […]

2. (ambitransitive, sometimes impersonal) To befit or suit; to be suitable or necessary.
3. (intransitive) To fall into; to enter a condition or state [with in or on]
4. (intransitive, rare) To fall or land (in somewhere); to land.
5. (intransitive, rare) To be related or connected [with to]

• English: befall
• Middle Scots: befall, befaw
  • Scots: befaw

• “bifallen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “befall, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

bifallen

1. past participle of bifalla

bifallen

1. approved, granted

bifallen

1. definite plural of bifall

• bifallne