The Collaborative International Dictionary
Falling \Fall"ing\, a. & n. from Fall, v. i.
Falling away, Falling off, etc. See To fall away, To fall off, etc., under Fall, v. i.
Falling band, the plain, broad, linen collar turning down over the doublet, worn in the early part of the 17th century.
Falling sickness (Med.), epilepsy.
--Shak.
Falling star. (Astron.) See Shooting star.
Falling stone, a stone falling through the atmosphere; a meteorite; an a["e]rolite.
Falling tide, the ebb tide.
Falling weather, a rainy season. [Colloq.]
--Bartlett.
Usage examples of "falling tide".
By then the falling tide had exposed the reef, the seas had receded and the wreck was still.
But the combination of a shallow harbor and a falling tide caused the Merchant to run aground.
But most of the sense of unreality stemmed from simple exhaustion, nervous and physical, and the exhaustion had to be ignored while the work went on, trying to think clearly in the numbing darkness, with the knowledge that the Trepieds shoal lay close under their lee, on a falling tide.
It would be far more dangerous to touch bottom on a falling tide than on a rising one.
The only way of doing so was to run south, skirting the inner reef towards the rock they called the Thatcher, close in by the southern arm of the bay, and then to go about, make a short board towards the outer reef, and so round Gripes Point into safety, there to lie until the gale blew itself out and a falling tide enabled them to run clear -there was not the least possibility of weathering the outer reef, of running through the gap, at present, with the wind dead on shore.
On the deck itself he found a thin grey daylight - drizzle, but no wind, and the ship beating less as she settled with the falling tide.