adj. phr. (colloquial).—Dilapidated, ruinous, RATTLETRAP (q.v.).

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  1839.  LONGFELLOW, Hyperion, ii. 9. A TUMBLE-DOWN old Lutheran church.

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  1859.  H. KINGSLEY, Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, iii. You will be doing injustice to this boy if you hang on here in this useless TUMBLEDOWN old palace.

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  1863.  GASKELL, Sylvia’s Lovers, xxiv. T’ oud TUMBLEDOWN place is just a heap o’ brick and mortar.

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  1881.  E. A. FREEMAN, Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice, 340. A few dirty-looking men assemble at the door of a TUMBLE-DOWN building.

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  1885.  Daily Telegraph, 16 Nov. They came so low as to live in a TUMBLE-DOWN old house at Peckham.

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