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Glite Dictionary
🌲 Fallen trees 🪤 A heavy trap
deadfall

deadfall

1 7.1
Fallen trees and large branches lying on the ground that block paths in a forest
  • noun
  • /ˈdɛdˌfɔl/
translation icon : troncos caídos
  • We were on a temporary field road that ran along a muddy creek filled with winter's deadfall from the overhanging locust trees, which were now in late bloom.
  • climb over deadfall
  • deadfall pine
  • trees and deadfall

Examples

  • After two hundred yards, he was still picking his way among trees, deadfalls, and brush.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • They also searched for deadfall and driftwood.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "We were up a ways when I saw a car stopped by some deadfall across the road.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • "Reassured, I picked up some deadfall and carried it back to the edge of the landing ramp.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Rob fired up a chainsaw to clear deadfall trees from a hiking trail.

    Blog text (12)

  • Deadfall had accumulated, filling the spaces between the trees.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The duck tumbled through the trees and into deadfall trash, and the hawk shot away as swiftly as it had come.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • She got out, carrying Jaya, and crouched behind a jumble of deadfall.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Since the 1960s, these foresters have been emphasizing the importance of leaving deadfall alone for the sake of returning nutrients to the earth and sustaining habitat.

    Academic text (2010)

  • While hiking in the forest, we had to navigate carefully around the deadfall blocking the narrow trail.

Synonyms

slash
vsdeadfall
  • Specialized
3 8.8

An area of a forest covered in broken branches and dead wood

is the scattered trees and large branches lying across the forest floor
deadwood
vsdeadfall
1 3.5

A dead branch or piece of wood on a tree

means larger fallen trunks and woody debris lying on the ground
blowdown
vsdeadfall
  • US
1 5.7

Trees and other things knocked down by very strong wind

is similar but includes debris from any cause, not only wind

How Obstructive

deadfall
1 7.1
branch
243 1.0
twig
61 1.0

Surface Forms

deadfall singular
deadfalls plural

Morphology

deadfall = dead + fall (transparent) = dead + fall

The sense refers straightforwardly to 'fallen dead wood' or 'a fall of dead trees/branches', a direct combination of 'dead' + 'fall' that learners can readily infer.

Etymology

Deadfall also means the fallen trees and big branches on the ground. It is literally dead ('no longer alive') things that fall ('drop to the ground'), which is why deadfall often blocks trails after a storm.