bungle
verbEtymology
The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is either: * onomatopoeic in origin (compare bumble (“to act in an inept, clumsy or inexpert manner; to make mistakes”), fumble (“to grope awkwardly in trying to find something; to blunder uncertainly”)); or * from Old Norse; compare Old Swedish bunga (“to strike”), and dialectal Swedish bangla (“to work ineffectually”). The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * German Bengel (“cudgel; rude fellow”) * Middle High German bungen (“to hammer”)
Definitions
To incompetently perform (a task)
To incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action; to botch up, to bumble.
To act or work incompetently
To act or work incompetently; to fumble.
- [T]he trooper fails to fasten the brooch. His hand shakes, he is nervous, and it falls off. "Would any one believe this?" says he, catching it as it drops and looking round. "I am so out of sorts that I bungle at an easy job like this!"
A botched or incompetently handled action or situation
A botched or incompetently handled action or situation; a blunder.
- The second figure [of the dance] commenced, and I made a sad bungle; so I did of the third, and fourth, and fifth, for I never had danced a cotillon.
The neighborhood
Derived
bungled, bungler, bunglery, bunglesome, bungling, bunglingly
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for bungle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA