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fumble

 - 3 dictionary results

fum⋅ble

  [fuhm-buhl] verb, -bled, -bling, noun
Use fumble in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to feel or grope about clumsily: She fumbled in her purse for the keys.
2. Sports. to fumble the ball.
–verb (used with object)
3. to make, handle, etc., clumsily or inefficiently: to fumble an attempt; He fumbled his way through the crowded room.
4. Sports. to fail to hold or maintain hold on (a ball) after having touched it or carried it.
–noun
5. the act of fumbling: We completed the difficult experiment without a fumble.
6. Sports. an act or instance of fumbling the ball.
Origin:
1500–10; akin to Norw, Sw fumla, MLG fummeln to grope, fumble

Related forms:
fumbler, noun
fum⋅bling⋅ly, adverb
fum⋅bling⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
3. bungle, botch, mishandle, spoil, muff.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fumble
fum·ble   (fŭm'bəl)   
v.   fum·bled, fum·bling, fum·bles

v.   intr.

  1. To touch or handle nervously or idly: fumble with a necktie.

  2. To grope awkwardly to find or to accomplish something: fumble for a key.

  3. To proceed awkwardly and uncertainly; blunder: fumble through a speech.

    1. Football To drop a ball that is in play.

    2. Baseball To mishandle a ground ball.

v.   tr.

  1. To touch or handle clumsily or idly: "fumbled the receiver into its cradle" (Howard Kaplan).

  2. To make a mess of; bungle. See Synonyms at botch.

  3. To feel or make (one's way) awkwardly.

    1. Football To drop (a ball) while in play.

    2. Baseball To mishandle (a ground ball).

n.  

  1. The act or an instance of fumbling.

  2. Sports A ball that has been fumbled.


[Middle English fomelen, to grope.]
fum'bler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

fumble 
c.1450, "handle clumsily," possibly from O.N. falma "to fumble, grope." Similar words in Scand. and North Sea Gmc. suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (cf. bumble, stumble, and obsolete Eng. famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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