Noun

1. The sound made by a footstep.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 2, sc. 2,

     . . . like hedgehogs which

     Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount

     Their pricks at my footfall.

   • 1916, Rabindranath Tagore, "The Hungry Stones," in The Hungry Stones And Other Stories,

     I heard many footfalls, as if a large number of persons were rushing down the steps.

2. Foot (pedestrian) traffic.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, ch. 1,

     This stir of change and these perpetual echoes of the moving footfall, haunt the land. Men move eternally, still chasing Fortune.

   • 2008, "Bargains galore in battle of the high street," The Scotsman, 9 Dec. (retrieved 11 Dec. 2008),

     With high-street stores desperate to increase footfall and buck the financial downturn, retailers have started issuing discount vouchers.