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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stumble \Stum"ble\, verb (used without an object) [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.
There stumble steeds strong and down go all. --Chaucer.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at what they stumble. --Prov. iv. 19.
2. To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner.
He stumbled up the dark avenue. --Sir W. Scott.
3. To fall into a crime or an error; to err.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion og stumbling in him. --1 John ii. 10.
4. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on, upon, or against.
Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath. --Dryden.
Forth as she waddled in the brake, A gray goose stumbled on a snake. --C. Smart.
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |