take a fall out of

English

Verb

take a fall out of (third-person singular simple present takes a fall out of, present participle taking a fall out of, simple past took a fall out of, past participle taken a fall out of)

1. (transitive, obsolete, slang) get the better of
   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎^[1]:

     and they had it back and forth across the table—a good old-fashioned family spat. Jennie mixed in; Jeff took a fall out of her and wished mighty soon that he hadn't.

   • 1919 June 8, “Intolerance at Zurich”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Besides, how they do love to “take a fall out of” the bourgeois–épater is their word for it.

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “take a fall out of”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang