TUMBLE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tumble

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/tˈəmbəl/ Listen

noun

Tumble n. Act of tumbling, or rolling over; a fall.

verb

Tumble v. t.

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.

To disturb; to rumple; as, to tumble a bed.

Tumble v. i. (past & past part. tumbled; pres. part. tumbling)

To roll over, or to and fro; to throw one's self about; as, a person in pain tumbles and tosses.

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."

To play tricks by various movements and contortions of the body; to perform the feats of an acrobat.

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.

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Etymology of 'Tumble'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tumble" Quotes from Famous Books

... and say, 'He has gone South for the week,' and he'll tumble. It's only cutting your time of stay in those parts by two days. I ask you as a stranger—going to the ...

— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... coast passes through the old national road by the way of Cerro Gordo. The hamlet bearing this name, where General Scott outflanked and defeated Santa Anna, April 18, 1847, consists of a few mud cabins in a tumble-down condition. It has become a memorable spot, but save its historical association is possessed of no attractions. It is not a populous district: there are few haciendas met with, and fewer hamlets, but the scenery is very grand, and the vegetation is ...

— Aztec Land • Maturin M. Ballou

... other, which was understood by the number of pulls given by it; three pulls, for instance, meant "Turn out," one in response, "Aye, aye, I am awake, and what is it that is wanted?" one pull in return signified that it was "Eight bells," and so on. But three quick jerks meant "Tumble out and shorten sail." ...

— Voyage of the Liberdade • Captain Joshua Slocum

... ahoy! tumble up there, you sleepers, and don't wait to curl your hair. Hurry up, now, and give me a chance to see who are the ...

— The Adventures of Dick Maitland - A Tale of Unknown Africa • Harry Collingwood

... his head. "If you do that they'll tumble to you, Mr. Gard. It's an even chance Mr. Mahr would have any messages reported. He could, you know; he's a pretty important stockholder in the transmission companies. You'd better have a watchman or an alarm attachment on the safe, ...

— Out of the Ashes • Ethel Watts Mumford

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