FAIL, v.i. [L. fallo; Gr. whence; Eng. felony. It seems to be allied to fall, fallow, pale, and many other words.]

1. Omission; non-performance. He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites. Josh. iii.
2. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; want; death. [In this sense little used.]

1. To become deficient; to be insufficient; to cease to be abundant for supply; or to be entirely wanting. We say, in a dry season, the springs and streams fail, or are failing, before they are entirely exhausted. We say also, the springs failed, when they entirely ceased to flow. Crops fail wholly or partially.
2. To decay; to decline; to sink; to be diminished. We say of a sick person, his strength fails daily.
3. To decline; to decay; sink; to become weaker; as, the patient fails every hour.
4. To be extinct; to cease; to be entirely wanting; to be no longer produced. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. Ps. xii.
5. To be entirely exhausted; to be wanting; to cease from supply. Money failed in the land of Egypt. Gen. xlvii.
6. To cease; to perish; to be lost. Lest the remembrance of his grief should fail. Addison.
7. To die. They shall all fail together. Is. xxxi.
8. To decay; to decline; as, the sight fails in old age.
9. To become deficient or wanting; as, the heart or the courage fails.
10. To miss; not to produce the effect. The experiment was made with care, but failed, or failed to produce the effect, or failed of the effect.
11. To be deficient in duty; to omit or neglect. The debtor failed to fulfill his promise. .
12. To miss; to miscarry; to be frustrated or disappointed. The enemy attacked the fort, but failed in his design, or failed of success.
13. To be neglected; to fall short; not to be executed. The promises of a man of probity seldom fail. The soul or the spirit fails, when a person is discouraged. The eyes fail, when the desires and expectations are long delayed, and the person is disappointed.
14. To become insolvent or bankrupt. When merchants and traders fail, they are said to become bankrupt. When other men fail, they are said to become insolvent.

1. To desert; disappoint; to cease or to neglect or omit to afford aid, supply or strength. It is said, fortune never fails the brave. Our friends sometimes fail us, when we most need them. The aged attempt to walk, when their limbs fail them. In bold enterprises, courage should never fail the hero.
2. To omit; not to perform. The inventive God, who never fails his part. Dryden.
3. To be wanting to. There shall never fail thee a man on the throne. 1 Kings ii. [In the transitive use of this verb, there is really an ellipsis of from or to, or other word. In strictness, the verb is not transitive, and the passive participle is, I believe, never used.]

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 wanting to ; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
   
   

   There shall not fail thee a man on the throne. 1 Kings ii. 4.

3. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail.
   
   
   "His highness' fail of issue." Shak.
4. 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.

5. To miss of attaining; to lose.
   
   
   [R.]

   Though that seat of earthly bliss be failed. Milton.

6. Death; decease.
   
   
   [Obs.] Shak.
7. 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.

8. To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
9. To perish; to die; -- used of a person.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Had the king in his last sickness failed. Shak.

10. 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.

11. To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired ; to be baffled or frusrated.
    
    

    Our envious foe hath failed. Milton.

12. To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
    
    

    Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps
    Shall grieve him, if I fail not. Milton.

13. 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.