[syn: catch on, get wise, get onto, tumble, latch on, cotton on, twig, get it]
8. fall suddenly and sharply;
- Example: "Prices tumbled after the devaluation of the currency"
9. put clothes in a tumbling barrel, where they are whirled about in hot air, usually with the purpose of drying;
- Example: "Wash in warm water and tumble dry"
10. suffer a sudden downfall, overthrow, or defeat;
11. do gymnastics, roll and turn skillfully;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tumble \Tum"ble\, n.
Act of tumbling, or rolling over; a fall.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tumble \Tum"ble\ (t[u^]m"b'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tumbled
(t[u^]m"b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Tumbling (t[u^]m"bl[i^]ng).]
[OE. tumblen, AS. tumbian to turn heels over head, to dance
violently; akin to D. tuimelen to fall, Sw. tumla, Dan.
tumle, Icel. tumba; and cf. G. taumeln to reel, to stagger.]
1. To roll over, or to and fro; to throw one's self about;
as, a person in pain tumbles and tosses.
[1913 Webster]
2. To roll down; to fall suddenly and violently; to be
precipitated; as, to tumble from a scaffold.
[1913 Webster]
He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater
blow than he who slides from a molehill. --South.
[1913 Webster]
3. To play tricks by various movements and contortions of the
body; to perform the feats of an acrobat. --Rowe.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tumble \Tum"ble\, v. t.
1. 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.
[1913 Webster]
2. To disturb; to rumple; as, to tumble a bed.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
tumble
n 1: an acrobatic feat of rolling or turning end over end
2: a sudden drop from an upright position; "he had a nasty spill
on the ice" [syn: spill, tumble, fall]
v 1: fall down, as if collapsing; "The tower of the World Trade
Center tumbled after the plane hit it" [syn: tumble,
topple]
2: cause to topple or tumble by pushing [syn: topple,
tumble, tip]
3: roll over and over, back and forth
4: fly around; "The clothes tumbled in the dryer"; "rising smoke
whirled in the air" [syn: whirl, tumble, whirl around]
5: fall apart; "the building crumbled after the explosion";
"Negotiations broke down" [syn: crumble, crumple,
tumble, break down, collapse]
6: throw together in a confused mass; "They tumbled the teams
with no apparent pattern"
7: understand, usually after some initial difficulty; "She
didn't know what her classmates were plotting but finally
caught on" [syn: catch on, get wise, get onto,
tumble, latch on, cotton on, twig, get it]
8: fall suddenly and sharply; "Prices tumbled after the
devaluation of the currency"
9: put clothes in a tumbling barrel, where they are whirled
about in hot air, usually with the purpose of drying; "Wash
in warm water and tumble dry"
10: suffer a sudden downfall, overthrow, or defeat
11: do gymnastics, roll and turn skillfully
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
243 Moby Thesaurus words for "tumble":
alight upon, apprehend, arsy-varsiness, ball up, bite the dust,
blow down, blow over, blunder, blunder upon, blur,
blur distinctions, bollix up, bow, bowl down, bowl over, break up,
breakdown, bring down, bulldog, bump into, capsize, careen, career,
cast down, catch on, chance upon, chop down, clutter, collapse,
come a cropper, come across, come down, come on, come up against,
come upon, comedown, comprehend, confound, confuse, crash, cropper,
crumble, crumble to dust, culbute, cut down, dash down, deck,
deflation, descend, dig, discover serendipitously, disintegrate,
dive, down, downfall, drop, dump, encounter, fall, fall down,
fall flat, fall headlong, fall in with, fall over, fall prostrate,
fall to pieces, falter, farrago, fell, fetch down, fidget,
flip out, floor, flop, flounce, flounder, flutter, forced landing,
foul up, freak out on, fumble, garble, get a cropper, get high on,
glow, go down, go pitapat, go to pieces, go under, ground, grovel,
happen upon, hash, have enough, have the fidgets, have the shakes,
header, heave, helter-skelter, hew down, higgledy-piggledy,
hit upon, hobbyhorse, hodgepodge, hysteron proteron, jerk, jumble,
jumble together, keel over, knock down, labor, lay level, lay low,
lay out, level, lick the dust, light upon, list, litter, lose,
lose out, lose the day, lurch, make heavy weather, mash,
meet up with, meet with, mess, mishmash, mix, mix up, mow down,
muck up, muddle, nose dive, overlook distinctions, palpitate, pant,
perceive, pi, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitch and toss,
play hob with, plunge, pound, pratfall, precipitate, prostrate,
pull down, quake, quaver, quiver, rase, raze, rear, reel, riffle,
rock, roll, rummage, run across, run into, run up against,
say uncle, scend, scramble, screw up, see the light, seethe,
send headlong, shake, shiver, shuffle, slip, slump, smash, snafu,
snarl up, spill, sprawl, spread-eagle, squirm, stagger, struggle,
stumble, stumble on, stumble upon, succumb, supinate, sway, swell,
swell with emotion, swing, tailspin, take a fall, take a flop,
take a header, take a pratfall, take a spill, take down,
take the count, thrash about, thrill, thrill to, throb, throw,
throw down, tilt, tingle, tingle with excitement, topple,
topple down, topple over, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, toss,
toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, tremble, trip, tumble on,
tumble to, turmoil, turn on to, turn turtle, twist and turn,
twitch, twitter, understand, unholy mess, upset, volutation,
wallop, wallow, welter, whack down, wiggle, wise up, wriggle,
writhe, yaw