Stŭm'ble1, v. i.
[imp. & p. p. STUMBLED; p. pr. & vb. n. STUMBLING.] [L. Ger. stumpeln, stumpern, to walk heavily, Prov. Eng. stummer, to stumble, stump, to walk or step very heavily.] 1. To trip in walking or moving in any way upon the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. Prov. iv. 19. 2. To walk in a bungling or unsteady manner. He stumbled up the dark avenue. W. Scott. 3. To slide into a crime or an error; to err. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. 1 John ii. 10. 4. To strike upon a thing without design; to fall or light by chance; — with on or upon. Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertence, upon Livia in a bath. Dryden.