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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Stumble \Stum"ble\, v. t.
1. To cause to stumble or trip.
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2. Fig.: To mislead; to confound; to perplex; to cause to err
or to fall.
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False and dazzling fires to stumble men. --Milton.
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One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of
this hypothesis. --Locke.
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Stumble \Stum"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Stumbled}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Stumbling}.] [OE. stumblen, stomblen; freq. of a word
akin to E. stammer. See {Stammer}.]
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.
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There stumble steeds strong and down go all.
--Chaucer.
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The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at
what they stumble. --Prov. iv.
19.
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2. To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner.
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He stumbled up the dark avenue. --Sir W.
Scott.
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3. To fall into a crime or an error; to err.
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He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and
there is none occasion og stumbling in him. --1 John
ii. 10.
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4. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without
design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on, upon, or
against.
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Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a
bath. --Dryden.
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Forth as she waddled in the brake,
A gray goose stumbled on a snake. --C. Smart.
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Stumble \Stum"ble\, n.
1. A trip in walking or running.
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2. A blunder; a failure; a fall from rectitude.
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One stumble is enough to deface the character of an
honorable life. --L'Estrange.
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