stumble upon
bəl verb (used without object)
1.
to strike the foot against something, as in walking or running, so as to stagger or fall; trip.
2.
to walk or go unsteadily: to stumble down a dark passage.
3.
to make a slip, mistake, or blunder, especially a sinful one: to stumble over a question; to stumble and fall from grace.
4.
to proceed in a hesitating or blundering manner, as in action or speech (often followed by along ).
5.
to discover or meet with accidentally or unexpectedly (usually followed by on, upon, or across ): They stumbled on a little village.
verb (used with object)
7.
to cause to stumble; trip.
8.
to give pause to; puzzle or perplex.
00:10
Stumble upon
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English stumblen; cognate with Norwegian stumla to grope and stumble in the dark; akin to stammer
1275–1325; Middle English stumblen; cognate with Norwegian stumla to grope and stumble in the dark; akin to stammer
Related forms
stum·bler, noun
stum·bling·ly, adverb
un·stum·bling, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To stumble upon
Collins
World English Dictionary
stumble (ˈstʌmbəl) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb (foll by across | |
| 1. | to trip or fall while walking or running |
| 2. | to walk in an awkward, unsteady, or unsure way |
| 3. | to make mistakes or hesitate in speech or actions |
| 4. | to come (across) by accident |
| 5. | to commit a grave mistake or sin |
| —n | |
| 6. | a false step, trip, or blunder |
| 7. | the act of stumbling |
| [C14: related to Norwegian stumla, Danish dialect stumle; see | |
| 'stumbler | |
| —n | |
| 'stumbling | |
| —adj | |
| 'stumblingly | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
stumble
c.1300, "to trip or miss one's footing" (physically or morally), probably from a Scand. source (cf. dialectal Norw. stumla, Swed. stambla "to stumble"), probably from a variant of the P.Gmc. base *stam-, source of O.E. stamerian "to stammer," Ger. stumm "dumb, silent." Possibly influenced in form by
stumpen "to stumble," but the -b- may be purely euphonious. Meaning "to come (upon) by chance" is attested from 1555. Stumbling-block first recorded 1526, used in Rom. xiv.13 to transl. Gk. skandalon. Stumblebum "alcoholic derelict" first recorded 1932.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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