Tumble \Tum"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tumbled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Tumbling.]
[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 on pain tumbles and tosses.
2. To roll down; to fall suddenly and violently; to be
precipitated; as, to tumble from a scaffold.
He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater
blow than he who slides from a molehill. --South.
3. To play tricks by various movements and contortions of the
body; to perform the feats of an acrobat. --Rowe.
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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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