tumble

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A fall, especially end over end.

   • I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.
2. 2

   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.
3. 3

   An act of sexual intercourse.

   • Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?
   • When you've just had a tumble between the sheets and are feeling rumpled and lazy, she may want to get up so she can make the bed.
4. ›+ 11 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To fall end over end

      To fall end over end; to roll over and over.

      • He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.
      • The two animals tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get inside, and heard the door shut behind them with great joy and relief.
   2. 5

      To throw headlong.

      • 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.
      • [A] surge of muddy water tore him free from his sandy nook and tumbled him down the gully.
   3. 6

      To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.

   4. 7

      To drop rapidly.

      • Share prices tumbled after the revelation about the company's impending failure.
   5. 8

      To smooth and polish (e.g. gemstones or pebbles) by means of a rotating tumbler.

   6. 9

      To have sexual intercourse.

   7. 10

      To move or rush in a headlong or uncontrolled way.

   8. 11

      To muss, to make disorderly

      To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.

      • to tumble a bed
   9. 12

      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.
   10. 13

       To comprehend

       To comprehend; often in tumble to.

       • 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; […]
   11. 14

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

The neighborhood