See Also: tumble(1)(dictionary)
tumble(2)(dictionary)
Tumble - Skydiving(gambling)
rough-and-tumble(dictionary)
rumble-tumble(dictionary)
rough and tumble(dictionary)
tumble 2, noun(dictionary)
tumble dryer(dictionary)
Tumble Finish - Golf(gambling)

tumble(2) (iou)



tumble verb. ME.
[Middle Low German tummelen = Old High German tumalon (German tummeln), frequentative from base of Old High German tumon, tumalon (German taumeln): see -LE3. Cf. Old English tumbian dance, Middle High German tumben, Old Norse tumba tumble.]
verb intrans. Perform leaps, somersaults, and other acrobatic feats. Formerly also, dance with posturing or contortions. ME.
Radio Times She's utterly fearless and she can tumble really well.
verb intrans.
a. Fall or fall down, esp. suddenly, clumsily, or headlong; (of a stream) fall in a cataract. Also foll. by down, over. ME.
A. P. Herbert Streams..tumbling in tiny cascades to the watercress beds. K. Vonnegut The staircase down which Marilee had tumbled. B. Sidhwa A tiny sparrow..had tumbled from its nest.
b. Of a structure: fall in ruins or fragments; collapse. LME.
J. Rhys These beautiful places are tumbling down because no one has cared for them.
c. Esp. of stocks: fall rapidly in value or amount. slang. L19.
P. P. Read Prices began to tumble first in New York and then Tokyo.
verb trans.
a. Cause to fall or fall down suddenly or violently; throw down. ME.
Beverley Cleary One of the twine loops broke, tumbling Ramona to the sidewalk.
b. Pull down and destroy (a structure); demolish, reduce to ruins. LME.
a. verb intrans. & refl. Roll or toss about; throw oneself around restlessly. Also, wallow. LME.
Dickens He was very restless..and for some hours tossed and tumbled.
b. verb intrans. (Of a pigeon) repeatedly turn over backwards in flight; transf. (of a projectile) turn end over end in flight. L17.
c. verb intrans. Of washing: be tossed about in a tumble-drier or washing machine. L20.
verb trans. Propel or drive headlong, or with a falling or rolling movement; throw roughly or forcibly; toss, pitch. E16.
Scientific American The rats were briefly tumbled in a revolving drum.
verb trans. Cause to fall in a disordered manner or a confused heap. Also foll. by down, in, out, etc. M16.
H. F. Tozer He tumbled on to my plate..half a dishful of mulberries.
fig.
a. verb intrans. Come upon by chance, blunder into, on, upon. M16.
b. verb intrans. Perceive or grasp the meaning or hidden implication of an idea, circumstance, etc. Also foll. by to, that. slang. M19.
K. Douglas And so on, for three or four times, till I tumbled to it.
c. verb trans. Detect, see through. slang. M20.
verb intrans. Move or rush in a headlong or blundering manner; proceed in disorderly haste. Also foll. by into, out, etc. Now colloq. L16.
H. James I tumbled into bed. J. Steinbeck Her words tumbled out in a passion of communication. A. Mason The flood of ideas that tumbled into his brain.
verb trans. Look or search through, esp. roughly or hastily. Now rare. L16.
verb trans. Have sexual intercourse with. slang. E17.
J. I. M. Stewart Tumbling a strange woman on an apology for a bed.
verb intrans. Of the sides of a ship: incline or slope inwards above the widest point, batter. Usu. tumble home. L17.
verb trans. Handle roughly; disorder, rumple; disarrange, pull about. E18.
Sir W. Scott The couch..is tumbled like a stormy sea.
verb trans. Clean or polish (castings, gems, etc.) in a tumbling-barrel. L19.
With adverbs in specialized senses: tumble up slang make haste, orig. (Nautical) from below deck.
Comb.: tumble-action the tumbling action of a tumble-drier; tumble-bug (chiefly US) a dung-beetle; tumble-drier a machine for drying washing in a heated rotating drum; tumble-dry verb trans. & intrans. dry (washing) in a tumble-drier; tumble-dung = tumble-bug above; tumble home = TUMBLING home; tumble-over noun & adjective (a) noun an act of falling over; a toy so weighted that it always stays upright (cf. TUMBLER noun 5c); (b) adjective inclined to fall down, rickety, tottering; tumble-up a tumbler which sits upside down on the neck of a carafe; tumbleweed N. Amer. & Austral. any of various plants, esp. of arid regions, which in late summer are broken off and blown along by the wind in light globular rolling masses.