Stumbling

Stumbling
Stumble Stum"ble, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Stumbled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stumbling}.] [OE. stumblen, stomblen; freq. of a word akin to E. stammer. See {Stammer}.] 1. To trip in walking or in moving in any way with the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall; to stagger because of a false step. [1913 Webster]

There stumble steeds strong and down go all. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at what they stumble. --Prov. iv. 19. [1913 Webster]

2. To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner. [1913 Webster]

He stumbled up the dark avenue. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

3. To fall into a crime or an error; to err. [1913 Webster]

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion og stumbling in him. --1 John ii. 10. [1913 Webster]

4. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on, upon, or against. [1913 Webster]

Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

Forth as she waddled in the brake, A gray goose stumbled on a snake. --C. Smart. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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