[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