Word Direct Answers

What does "tumble" mean?

Tumble: 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. South.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To play tricks by various movements and contortions of the body; to perform the feats of an acrobat. Rowe. 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.
  2. 3.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.
  3. 4.To disturb; to rumple; as, to tumble a bed.
  4. 5.Act of tumbling, or rolling over; a fall.

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