Stumble — Defs

01 v. i. 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 …

imp. & p. p. Stumbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Stumbling

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.

02 v. t. To cause to stumble or trip.

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.

03 n. A trip in walking or running.

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.