stagger

Definitions

1. 1.To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail. "The enemy staggers." Addison.
2. 2.To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Rom. iv.
3. 3.1. To cause to reel or totter. That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire That staggers thus my person. Shak.
4. 4.To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock. Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much stagered. Howell. Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility. Burke.
5. 5.To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.
6. 6.An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man.
7. 7.pl. (Far.) A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; appopletic or sleepy staggers.
8. 8.pl. Bewilderment; perplexity. [R.] Shak. Stomach staggers (Far.), distention of the stomach with food or gas, resulting in indigestion, frequently in death.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

• What does "stagger" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is stagger.

• What is to cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail. "The enemy staggers." Addison called?
• What is to begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Rom. iv called?
• What is 1. To cause to reel or totter. That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire That staggers thus my person. Shak called?
• What is to arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam called?
• What is an unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man called?
• What is pl. (Far.) A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; appopletic or sleepy staggers called?
• What is pl. Bewilderment; perplexity. [R.] Shak. Stomach staggers (Far.), distention of the stomach with food or gas, resulting in indigestion, frequently in death called?