DCHP-2

windfall DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1a n.

  a tree blown down by the wind.

  • 1823  The Road is to be cut ten feet wide and opened straight; the trees to be cut down level with the ground and removed, with all windfalls and obstructions.
  • 1958  We investigated the groves and woodlot to find which old trees had been felled by the winter storms, and to clear out brush and windfalls from the pathways.

• 1b n.

  such trees collectively.

  See also: down timber  wind-throw timber  

  • 1849  . . . we had to cut our way through, and to climb over . . . the prostrate trees, windfall, entangled with second growth of birch, fir. . . .
  • 1965  . . . for two days I walked and crawled over windfall which was strewn to a depth of five feet.

• 2 n.

  a tract of land strewn with trees toppled by the wind.

  See also: renversé  slash ((n.))  (def. 2)  

  • 1829  Winds are seldom severe; sometimes, however, they lay waste extensive belts of the forest of thirty miles at a stretch, and from a quarter to a mile broad; these are called Windfalls.
  • 1834  (1926)  . . . about ten or twelve acres of this will be light chopping, principally young timber on an old windfall or burn and will have to lie a summer before burning.
  • 1947  In a windfall we saw a large bull with wide-spread flat, irregular antlers. . . .