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Webster 1913 Edition

Stumble

Stum′ble

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Stumbled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Stumbling
.]
[OE.
stumblen
,
stomblen
; freq. of a word akin to E.
stammer
. See
Stammer
.]
1.
To trip in walking or in moving in any way with the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall; to stagger because of a false step.
There
stumble
steeds strong and down go all.
Chaucer.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at what they
stumble
.
Prov. iv. 19.
2.
To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner.
He
stumbled
up the dark avenue.
Sir W. Scott.
3.
To fall into a crime or an error; to err.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion og
stumbling
in him.
1 John ii. 10.
4.
To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; – with on, upon, or against.
Ovid
stumbled
, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath.
Dryden.
Forth as she waddled in the brake,
A gray goose
stumbled
on a snake.
C. Smart.

Stum′ble

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To cause to stumble or trip.
2.
Fig.: To mislead; to confound; to perplex; to cause to err or to fall.
False and dazzling fires to
stumble
men.
Milton.
One thing more
stumbles
me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.
Locke.

Stum′ble

,
Noun.
1.
A trip in walking or running.
2.
A blunder; a failure; a fall from rectitude.
One
stumble
is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.
L’Estrange.

Webster 1828 Edition

Stumble

STUMBLE

,
Verb.
I.
[This word is probably from a root that signifies to stop or to strike, and may be allied to stammer.]
1.
To trip in walking or moving in any way upon the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall; applied to any animal. A man may stumble, as well as a horse.
The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble. Proverbs 4.
2.
To err; to slide into a crime or an error.
He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 1 John 2.
3.
To strike upon without design; to fall on; to light on by chance. Men often stumble upon valuable discoveries.
Ovid stumbled by some inadvertence upon Livia in a bath.

STUMBLE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To obstruct in progress; to cause to trip or stop.
2.
To confound; to puzzle; to put to a nonplus; to perplex.
One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.

STUMBLE

,
Noun.
1.
A trip in walking or running.
2.
A blunder; a failure.
One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

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