Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to fall in love with a person or an idea or plan.

1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 27: When Bunch propounded his scheme [...] Ikey fell for it in a minute.
1912		J. London Smoke Bellew Pt 10 🌐 When it comes to finance we’re sure the fattest suckers that ever fell for the get-rich-quick bunco.
1917		Wodehouse ‘Crowned Heads’ in Man with Two Left Feet 94: I fell for you directly I seen you.
1920		F.S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald III (1960) 69: He was going to fall for her . . . Sally had published that information to her young set.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 70: I fell for him after I thought I never could fall for a man that way.
1930		E. Glyn Flirt and Flapper 64: Flapper: He fell for me hot ziggedy dog!
1945		‘Henry Green’ Loving (1978) 104: Look dear I could fall for you in a big way.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 78: Don’t tell me you fell for that one.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 30: The girls all fall for you, isn’t that so?
1966		C. Stead Cotters’ England (1980) 169: You fell for that bugger in the office.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 256: He’s a pouf. He might fall for you, but he won’t give you anything.
1982		P. Bailey Eng. Madam 69: He never thought there was going to be a tomorrow, like most of the men I’ve fallen for.
1992		D. Jarman diary 29 June Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 159: Pat fell for Gerald, Gerald fell for me.
2000		Guardian G2 14 Jan. 6: Europe has never fallen for crisps in the way we have.

2. (also fall to) to be fooled by a plan or trick.

1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 81: I don’t fall for that old gag.
1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Poet and the Peasant’ in Strictly Business (1915) 78: You don’t think I’d fall to that, do you?
1917		Wodehouse ‘Crowned Heads’ in Man with Two Left Feet 102: He fell for it right away.
c.1921		T. Norman Penny Showman 6: Anyway, I fell for his tale.
1938		D. Runyon ‘What, No Butler?’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 393: I am surprised you fall for etchings [...] one of the oldest build-ups of a doll in the world.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 236: A man in some love scene fell for the jive some chick was putting down.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 266: If he knew Jerry he was shooting a line, the bastard, and no doubt like the rest of her sex she was falling for it.
1963		G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 30: I gave him this line [...] about having to lubricate my vocal cords. He fell for it.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 76: You fell for that one.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 51: I tried to put the blame on some local punks. Maybe Fat Dog would fall for it.
1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 191: How the hell I let you drag me into this sick shit [...] is beyond me. I can’t believe I fell for it.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 3: How could people fall for it?
2000		Guardian 20 Jan. 13: They fell for it, hook, line and sinker.