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Tumble

//ˈtʌmbl̩// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A village in Llannon community, Carmarthenshire, Wales (OS grid ref SN5411).

Noun

1
A fall, especially end over end.
"I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth."
2
a sudden drop from an upright position wordnet
3
A disorderly heap.
"When at last we stopped in a tumble of bodies on the grass, laughing, and in Dad's case, out of breath, we were like little kids (I mean 5 or 6! After all I am 12!) at the end of a playground session."
4
an acrobatic feat of rolling or turning end over end wordnet
5
An act of sexual intercourse. informal
"Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?"

Verb

1
To fall end over end; to roll over and over. intransitive
"He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill."
2
do gymnastics, roll and turn skillfully wordnet
3
To throw headlong. transitive
"His hand went after his revolver almost that instant mine did. I was a second too quick for him, for my shot tumbled him from his mule just as his ball whistled harmlessly past by my head."
4
suffer a sudden downfall, overthrow, or defeat wordnet
5
To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings. intransitive

Show 16 more definitions

6
put clothes in a tumbling barrel, where they are whirled about in hot air, usually with the purpose of drying wordnet
7
To drop rapidly. intransitive
"Share prices tumbled after the revelation about the company's impending failure."
8
fall suddenly and sharply wordnet
9
To smooth and polish (e.g. gemstones or pebbles) by means of a rotating tumbler. transitive
10
understand, usually after some initial difficulty wordnet
11
To have sexual intercourse. informal, intransitive
12
throw together in a confused mass wordnet
13
To move or rush in a headlong or uncontrolled way. intransitive
"Whether he ever thought of it at all, might be a question ; but, if he ever did chance to cast his mind that way after a comfortable dinner, no doubt, like a good sailor, he took it to be a sort of call of the watch to tumble aloft, and bestir themselves there, about something which he would find out when he obeyed the order, and not sooner."
14
roll over and over, back and forth wordnet
15
To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.
"to tumble a bed"
16
fall down, as if collapsing wordnet
17
To obscure the audit trail of funds by means of a tumbler.
"Now it’s easy to purchase bitcoins on any number of mainstream markets and “tumble” them so that their point of purchase is obscured."
18
fall apart wordnet
19
To comprehend; often in tumble to. UK, obsolete, slang
"Speaking of this language, a costermonger said to me: "The Irish can't tumble to it anyhow; the Jews can tumble better, but we're their masters. Some of the young salesmen at Billingsgate understand us, — but only at Billingsgate; […]"
20
fly around wordnet
21
cause to topple or tumble by pushing wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”), frequentative of Middle English tumben (“to fall, leap, dance”), from Old English tumbian, from Proto-Germanic *tūmōną (“to turn, rotate”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tumelen (whence Dutch tuimelen), Middle Low German tumelen, tummelen, German taumeln and Danish tumle.

Etymology 2

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