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Webster 1913 Edition


Tumble

Tum′ble

(tŭm′b’l)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Tumbled
(tŭm′b’ld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Tumbling
(tŭm′blĭng)
.]
[OE.
tumblen
, AS.
tumbian
to turn heels over head, to dance violently; akin to D.
tuimelen
to fall, Sw.
tumla
, Dan.
tumle
, Icel.
tumba
; and cf. G.
taumeln
to reel, to stagger.]
1.
To roll over, or to and fro; to throw one’s self about;
as, a person in pain
tumbles
and tosses
.
2.
To roll down; to fall suddenly and violently; to be precipitated;
as, to
tumble
from a scaffold
.
He who
tumbles
from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.
South.
3.
To play tricks by various movements and contortions of the body; to perform the feats of an acrobat.
Rowe.
To tumble home
(Naut.)
,
to incline inward, as the sides of a vessel, above the bends or extreme breadth; – used esp. in the phrase tumbling home. Cf.
Wall-sided
.

Tum′ble

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To turn over; to turn or throw about, as for examination or search; to roll or move in a rough, coarse, or unceremonious manner; to throw down or headlong; to precipitate; – sometimes with over, about, etc.;
as, to
tumble
books or papers
.
2.
To disturb; to rumple;
as, to
tumble
a bed
.

Tum′ble

,
Noun.
Act of tumbling, or rolling over; a fall.

Webster 1828 Edition


Tumble

TUM'BLE

,
Verb.
I.
[L. tumulus, tumultus, tumeo.]
1.
To roll; to roll about by turning one way and the other; as, a person in pain tumbles and tosses.
2.
To fall; to come down suddenly and violently; as, to tumble from a scaffold.
3.
To roll down. The stone of Sisyphus is said to have tumbled to the bottom, as soon as it was carried up the hill.
4.
To play mountebank tricks.

TUM'BLE

,
Verb.
T.
To turn over; to turn or throw about for examination or searching; sometimes with over; as, to tumble over books or papers; to tumble over clothes. [To tumble over in thought, is not elegant.]
1.
To disturb; to rumple; as, to tumble a bed.
To tumble out, to throw or roll out; as, to tumble out casks from a store.
To tumble down, to throw down carelessly.

TUM'BLE

,
Noun.
A fall.

Definition 2024


tumble

tumble

English

Noun

tumble (plural tumbles)

  1. A fall.
    I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.
  2. An act of sexual intercourse.
    • John Betjeman, Group Life: Letchworth
      Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?
    • 1979, Martine, Sexual Astrology (page 219)
      When you've just had a tumble between the sheets and are feeling rumpled and lazy, she may want to get up so she can make the bed.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tumble (third-person singular simple present tumbles, present participle tumbling, simple past and past participle tumbled)

  1. (intransitive) To fall end over end; to roll.
    • Robert South (1634–1716)
      He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter IX”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. []
  2. To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Rowe to this entry?)
  3. To roll over and over.
  4. (informal) To have sexual intercourse.
  5. (transitive) To smooth and polish a rough surface on relatively small parts.
  6. To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.
    to tumble a bed

Derived terms

Translations