1. A branch or a part of a tree that is dead
   "Hikers had to climb over a large deadfall blocking the trail";
   - deadwood
    
2. A trap for animals, consisting of a heavy board or log that falls on to the animal
   "A deadfall is made by placing one end of a suitably sized log - one perhaps fifteen feet long and a foot in diameter - on a figure four trap, so adjusted that its spindle end, to which the bait is secured, shall be poised beneath the upraised end of the log"

Derived forms: deadfalls

Type of: branch

Encyclopedia: Deadfall