From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fail \Fail\ (f[=a]l) verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Failed} (f[=a]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Failing}.] [F. failir, fr. L. fallere, falsum, to deceive, akin to E. fall. See {Fail}, and cf. {Fallacy}, {False}, {Fault}.]
1. To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be furnished in the usual or expected manner, or to be altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking; as, streams fail; crops fail.
As the waters fail from the sea. --Job xiv. 11.
Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign. --Shak.
2. To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size. --Berke.
3. To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
When earnestly they seek Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail. --Milton.
4. To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
5. To perish; to die; -- used of a person. [Obs.]
Had the king in his last sickness failed. --Shak.
6. To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation.
Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. --Ezra iv. 22.
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. --Shak.
7. To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired; to be baffled or frusrated.
Our envious foe hath failed. --Milton.
8. To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not. --Milton.
9. To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent; as, many credit unions failed in the late 1980's.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fail \Fail\, noun [OF. faille, from failir. See {Fail}, verb (used without an object)]
1. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by {failure} or {failing}, except in the phrase without fail. ''His highness' fail of issue.'' --Shak.
2. Death; decease. [Obs.] --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
1. A failing short; a becoming deficient; failure; deficiency; imperfection; weakness; lapse; fault; infirmity; as, a mental failing.
And ever in her mind she cast about For that unnoticed failing in herself. --Tennyson.
2. The act of becoming insolvent of bankrupt.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: unable to meet financial obligations; "a failing business venture" [syn: {failed}]
2: below acceptable in performance; "received failing grades"
noun
1: a flaw or weak point; "he was quick to point out his wife's failings" [syn: {weakness}]
2: failure to reach a minimum required performance; "his failing the course led to his disqualification" [ant: {passing}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
202 Moby Thesaurus words for "failing": abortive, arrested, bad habit, besetting sin, blemish, blind spot, bootless, bug, cachectic, callow, catch, comedown, coming apart, crack, cracking, crumbling, debasement, debilitated, decadence, decadency, decadent, declension, declination, decline, declining, defect, defection, defective, deficiency, deficient, deformation, degeneracy, degenerate, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, demotion, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, derogation, descent, deteriorating, deterioration, devolution, disintegrating, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, drained, draining, drawback, drooping, drop, dwindling, dying, ebb, ebbing, effete, effeteness, embryonic, enervated, exhausted, fading, failed, failure, failure of nerve, fall, falling, falling-off, fault, faute, feeble, flagging, flaw, foible, found wanting, fragmenting, frail, frailty, fruitless, futile, going to pieces, healthless, hole, hypoplastic, immature, imperfect, imperfection, in arrear, in arrears, in default, in default of, in poor health, in short supply, inadequacy, inadequate, incompetent, incomplete, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, infant, infirm, infirmity, insufficient, invalid, involution, kink, lacking, lame, languishing, lapse, little problem, loss of tone, manque, marcescent, miscarried, miscarrying, missing, moral flaw, moribund, needing, not enough, of no effect, pale, part, partial, patchy, peaked, peaky, pining, problem, reduced, reduced in health, regression, regressive, retrocession, retrogradation, retrograde, retrogression, retrogressive, rift, run-down, sans, scant, scanty, scarce, scrappy, short, shortcoming, shriveling, shy, sickly, sinking, sketchy, sliding, slippage, slipping, slump, slumping, snag, something missing, stickit, stillborn, subsiding, successless, tabetic, taint, too little, underdeveloped, undeveloped, unequal to, unfortunate, unhealthy, unqualified, unsatisfactory, unsatisfying, unsound, unsuccessful, unsufficing, useless, valetudinarian, valetudinary, vice, vulnerable place, wane, waning, wanting, wasting, weak link, weak point, weak side, weakened, weakly, weakness, wilting, with low resistance, withering, without, worsening
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