Definition of "befall" []

• To come to pass; happen. (verb-intransitive)
• To happen to. See Synonyms at happen. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Wherefore, such opinions and persuasions are gradually insinuated into the mind, and are admitted insensibly without opposition or reluctancy, being never accompanied at their first admission with any secular disadvantage; -- but these divine convictions by the word befall men, some when they think of nothing less and desire nothing less; some when they design other things, as the pleasing of their ears or the entertainment of their company; and some that go on purpose to deride and scoff at what should be spoken unto them from it."
• "For although no calamity, such as man is subject to, befall, which is for the most part impossible, even thus, better is he that seeks not wealth, but knows how to bear all things easily than he that is always rich."
• "VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'A Tug On The Noose Around the Whitehouse\'s Neck '; yahooBuzzArticleSummary =' New developments in the Plame case are promising -- for those who would like to see justice "befall" the Whitehouse thugs. '"