Forms: 4 stomble, stumbill, -bul, 5 stombel, -byl, stomel(e, stomle, stoomel, stumbylle, stumle, stummel, 9 dial. stummle, 4– stumble. [Early 14th c. stomble, stumble (the b is euphonic; the original stomle, stumle, is not recorded till the 15th c.) corresponds to Norw. stumla to grope and stumble in the dark (Ross), Da. dial. stumle, Sw. dial. stomla; perh. repr. an unrecorded ON. *stumla, synonymous with the cognate stumra to stumble (Norw. stum a): see STUMMER v. The root is an ablaut-variant of *stam-: see STAMMER v.]
1. intr. To miss one’s footing, or trip over an obstacle, in walking or running, so as to fall or be in danger of falling.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 143. Ke il ne ceste ne ne chece [glossed stumble ne falle] En la bowe ne messece.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 12435. He [the giant] stombled, & gaf a cry. Ibid. (1338), Chron. (1810), 55. A seruitour þer was, þat serued at þe mete, He stombled at a chance, & felle on his kne.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xix. 8. Proude horsis that will stumbill and gere vs breke oure neke.
1388. Wyclif, John xi. 10. If he wandre in the niȝt, he stomblith [Vulg. offendit].
c. 1450. Brut, II. 378. And þanne þeȝe Frenschmen come prikkyng doun as þei wolde haue ouyr-rydyn alle oure meyne; but God and our archers made hem sone to stomble.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 92. The cordes is a thynge that wyll make a horse to stumble, and ofte to fall.
1659. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 147. The horse stumblinge threw them both.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Epist., I. x. 63. Our Fortunes and our Shoes are near allied; We’re pinch’d in strait, and stumble in the wide.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. ix. But, stumbling in the rugged dell, The gallant horse exhausted fell.
1846. Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. xix. 321. A sort of broken gallop, as of horses forced forward, yet faltering and stumbling at every step, was now heard.
1900. Bp. W. How, Lighter Moments, 37. His horse stumbled in a lane and fell with him.
b. with const. at, over.
a. 1450. Le Morte Arth., 115. His hors stomelyd at a stone.
c. 1450. Capgrave, Life St. Gilbert, xliii. 123. Sche stombeled at a blok whech was hid with straw and þus fel sodeynly.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Offensaculum, that which is layd in a mans waye, whereat he stumbleth.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. iii. 122. How oft to night Haue my old feet stumbled at graues.
a. 1707. Prior, Duke of Ormond’s Pict., 13. His steed … stumbles o’er the Heap.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxiii. Give me the torch,… and take care you don’t stumble over anything that lies in your way.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xv. Stumbling at every obstacle which the devotion of his guide, Richard, had left in the path, he [etc.].
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, iii. 58. As sure as one walks in the dark, one stumbles over a pig.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 52. Having stumbled over a stone.
1894. L. Alma-Tadema, Wings of Icarus, 158. I turned from the window, and stumbled over something; I lighted a candle, and sat shivering on the shrouded bed.
c. To fall in consequence of a stumble.
14[?]. Sir Beues (Pynson), 2454. There was a wel,… And Beuys stumbled ryght therin.
1907. Connoisseur, April, 275/2. Here are men fighting…, there a horse is stumbling to his knees.
d. To knock or jostle against (a person or thing) involuntarily.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/1. Stummelyn, or hurtelyn a-ȝen a stole, or clogge, or oþer lyke, impingo.
1822. Shelley, Faust, ii. 21. Every step One stumbles ’gainst some crag.
1835. Politeness & Gd.-breeding, 28. This boy or girl … who never … tries to vex your feelings, but if they happen so much as to stumble against you, or hurt you in any way, say immediately, ‘I am sorry for it.’
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xli. ‘I am out,’ quoth Hereward, as the man almost stumbled against him; ‘and this is in.’
e. Of an inanimate thing: To strike unexpectedly on. ? nonce-use.
1702. Secret Mercury, 23–30 Sept., 2/1. I press’d her to discover her Lodgings, but in vain; for the Boat just stumbled on the Stones and parted us.
1822. Shelley, trans. Calderon’s Mag. Prodig., ii. 60. It [that sad ship] strikes—… It stumbles on a jaggèd rock.
f. Phrase, To stumble at (on) the threshold. Chiefly fig., to fail, take offence, meet with an ominous check at the beginning of an enterprise.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 357. He stumbled [So several MSS.; but see THRUMBLE v.] on the thresshewolde.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., May, 230. Tho went the pensife Damme out of dore And chaunst to stomble at the threshold flore.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 11. For many men that stumble at the Threshold, Are well fore-told, that danger lurkes within.
1699. T. Baker, Refl. Learn., xvi. 200. This is no very great mistake, but it is always ominous to stumble at the threshold.
1725. N. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq. (1733), 209. I lately began to read Seneca’s Epistles, and stumbled, as they say, at the very Threshold.
1877. Froude, Short Stud. (1883), IV. I. iv. 49. He stumbled on the threshold, and had almost fallen, but recovered himself.
2. fig. in various uses.
a. To trip morally.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 6521. Ful many on stumble vp and down Of þe greces of syre glotown.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxv. 1. i shal not be seke [Vulg. non infirmabor] þat is, I shal noght stumbul.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2928. Soche stirrynges ger stumble, þat stidfast wold be.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. ii. 3. Jul. Would’st thou then counsaile me to fall in loue? Luc. I Madam, so you stumble not vnheedfully.
a. 1692. Shadwell, Volunteers, I. i. (1693), 7. That Mother in Law of thine is … I believe given to stumble much; there is an odd fellow keeps her Company.
1852. Thackeray, Eng. Hum., Swift (1858), 31. They sinned and stumbled … with debt, with drink.
b. To make a slip in speech or action; to blunder through inadvertence or unpreparedness.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 51. Yf yt happe … that any … fayle or stomble, or be dystracte from saynge or hering of eny worde, or verse, or psalme, [etc.].
1607. Rowlands, Diogines Lanth., 44. T’is better stumble with thy feet Then stumble with thy tongue.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 6. But yet as men they [the LXX] stumbled and fell, one while through ouersight, another while through ignorance.
c. To come on or upon by chance and unexpectedly; to come in or into (a place) by chance.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 337. He that speaketh much shal sumtimes stumble on the truth.
c. 1575. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 158. It was mie illuck to stumble on sutch cumpany to Walden warde, that I could not possibely cumpas mie purpose, unles [etc.].
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 30. Some Archplayer or other that hath read a litle, or stumbled by chance vpon Plautus comedies.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. ii. 53. Iuli. What man art thou, that thus bescreen’d in night So stumblest on my counsell?
1632. Lithgow, Trav., I. 33. It was my lucke to stumble in here againe.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Le Lutrin, II. 164. Thus trudg’d he nimble: Whom should he stumble next on, But that tough stick of Wood, Boirude the Sexton?
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 36. You shall sometimes stumble upon a Lieutenant … of a very different Make.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 280. He … had a world of talk With one he stumbled on, and lost his walk.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xiii. (1818), I. 417, note. Some time after making this experiment I stumbled upon a passage in Redi.
1838. W. C. Harris, Narr. Exped. S. Africa, 17. In the course of our perambulations … we stumbled upon a waggon discharging a cargo of oranges.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xix. They were not the fittest companions she could have stumbled on.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Libr. (1892), I. i. 10. The founders … appear to have stumbled upon their discovery by a kind of accident.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Florence, viii. 211. The curiously accidental and fortuitous way in which real excellence sometimes stumbles into recognition.
1902. S. Squire Sprigge, Industr. Chevalier, vii. 165. Now and again they stumble upon prizes which they cannot appreciate.
d. To take offence; to find a stumbling-block or obstacle to belief. Chiefly with const. at.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 11 b. Here perauenture the scrupulous persone wyll stomble, & say [etc.].
1593. Bilson, Govt. Christ’s Ch., 410. I see no cause for others to stumble at it.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. xv. 46. In case the Prelacy for England should stumble at the Supremacy of Rome.
1687. J. Renwick, in A. Shields, Life, Biogr. Presbyt. (1827), II. 287. Stumble not, because Religion is mocked at.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 21. The circumstance at which mankind … stumbled the most.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 92. Those who rebel against the law of God, stumble, in divers manners, at the ways of God. They stumble at God Himself,… they stumble at His attributes; they stumble at His Providence, at His acts [etc.].
1882. Emma R. Pitman, Mission Life in Greece & Pal., 326. These two peoples stumble at one ‘stumbling stone,’ even Christ.
† e. Proverb.
1530. Palsgr., 736/2. Thou lepest over a bloke and stomblest at a strawe.
1547. Homilies, Works, D iv. They were of so blynd iudgemente, that they stombled at a strawe, & leped ouer a blocke.
1653. W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, To Rdr. 17. To skip over blocks, and stumble at straws.
3. To walk unsteadily and with frequent stumbles.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 660. Stomlyng thurrow frythe and fen, Tyll he com to a depe glen.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., N ij b. But who so bolde as blinde Bayarde? for he mistrusting nought, comes stumbling forth at will.
1627. May, Lucan, III. F 1. He seeing his Sonne fall with trembling step Stumbling along came to that side the ship.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 201. But … blind be blinded more, That they may stumble on, and deeper fall.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. xv. 408. By this unreasonable custom they [the Chinese women] do in a manner lose the use of their Feet, and instead of going they only stumble about their Houses.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., ix. She kept talking all the while as she stumbled onward.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, I. 292. We stumbled along behind him by the light of the stars, over very rough places.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 59. What a load he stumbles under through his glad sad seventy years.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., xx. And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, ploughed down the sand,… and disappeared.
1902. S. E. White, Blazed Trail, iv. He dressed, shivering, and stumbled down stairs to a round stove.
b. transf. Of an inanimate thing: To move by jolts or falls. rare.
1873. Miss Thackeray, Old Kensington, ii. (ed. 2), 9. Staring … at the luggage as it comes bumping and stumbling off the big ship.
c. fig. To proceed, speak or act in a blundering or hesitating manner.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 591. Now mot a frere studyen & stumblen in tales.
1589. R. Harvey, Plain Percival, Ded. As farre as Will Solnes stuttring pronunciation may stumble ouer at a breath.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 316. My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words.
1598. Marston, Sco. Villanie, To iudiciall Perusers B 4 b. Yet both of them [Juvenal and Persius] goe a good seemely pace, not stumbling, shuffling.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. xiii. 246. Through a succession of failures, they stumbled into perfection.
1868. Tennyson, Lucretius, 123. I have forgotten what I meant: my mind Stumbles, and all my faculties are lamed.
1884. E. P. Roe, in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 912/2. I’ll stumble through the driest scientific treatise you have if I can see you resting on the sofa.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xv. Seneca blushed, and his smooth tongue stumbled, as he attempted to express his gratification.
4. trans. (causatively).
a. To trip up, bring to the ground, overthrow. lit. and fig. ? Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13050. Stedes slayn, stumbled & failled.
1382. Wyclif, Eccles. x. 12. The lippis of the vnwise shuln stumblen hym doun [Vulg. præcipitabunt eum].
1592. Soliman & Pers., IV. i. 222. I, now occasion serues to stumble him That thrust his sickle in my haruest corne.
1652. Brough, Sacred Princ. (ed. 2), 449. Stumble not an Vpright foot, with a visible Block of offence.
b. To puzzle; to give pause or offence to; to embarrass, nonplus.
1605. L. Hutten, Aunswere, 5. But the Treatiser thought it more for his aduantage,… to set down his argument confusedly, the more to stumble the vnskilfull Reader.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. iv. I. i. (1624), 297. A common ague sometimes stumbles them all [sc. the apothecaries], they cannot so much as ease.
1653. W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 22. I think good for the clearing of all what hath been already said (least some may be stumbled thereat) to deliver my minde as touching their influence thus.
1669. S. Simmons, Milton’s P. L., To Rdr. A reason of that which stumbled many others, why the Poem Rimes not.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War, 381. To question Election is … to stumble the faith of the Town of Mansoul.
1724. A. Shields, Life J. Renwick, Biogr. Presbyt. (1827), II. 144. By these and the like Reproaches, many were stumbled at his Testimony.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 533. In days like these … when Virtue is so scarce, That to suppose a scene where she presides … stumbles all belief.
1893. W. G. Collingwood, Life Ruskin, I. 172. The proud possessor of a cut-and-dry creed will be stumbled by this new milestone in Mr. Ruskin’s intellectual pilgrimage.
1901. Church Quarterly, July, 425. He [a Chinaman] is much stumbled that … the claims of a man’s wife take precedence of those of his elder brother.
† c. To shake (a resolve, an opinion). Obs.
1607. Markham, Cavel., III. vii. 34. There is nothing dooth so much stumble mens mindes, and make them affraide of keeping hunting horses, as the verie remembrance and charge of keeping them.
1646. Hamilton Papers (Camden), 134. The small appearance he findes that his message will be satisfactory to you there hath much stumbled his resolution of sending it to London.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. xxv. 192. Nor was it wisdome for Kings that sate loose in their Thrones, to stumble the good Opinions of so considerable [a] party towards them.
† d. To act as an obstacle to, to hinder, prevent.
1606. Warner, Alb. Eng., XVI. ciii. 406. What stumbleth our Banes-bidding, pra? cause Peg forsooth will be A Gentlewoman.
Hence Stumbled ppl. a.
1548. Cooper, Elyot’s Dict., Titubatus, tripped, stumbled.
1848. S. Wilberforce, in Ashwell, Life (1880), I. xi. 499. Though to anonymous public slanderers I would give no answer, yet to a stumbled Christian friend I ought even to humble myself to reply to a surmise so degrading to my character even as this.
