ˈtumble-down, a. (n.)
[the phrase tumble down used attrib. or as n.]
† a. Of a horse: That falls down habitually. Obs. rare—1.
| 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. i. (1809) 67 The Noble Puzzle for Tumble down Horses. |
b. That is in a tumbling condition; falling or fallen into ruin; dilapidated, ruinous.
| 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxi, His old tumble-down tower yonder. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede ii, The parsonage here's a tumble-down place, sir, not fit for gentry to live in. 1898 N. & Q. 9th Ser. II. 124 One of the grimiest and most tumbledown of the many dilapidated craft. |
c. absol. as n. A tumble-down house. rare.
| 1866 Howells Venet. Life vii, The tumble-down is patched up and sold at rates astonishing to innocent strangers who come from countries in good repair, where the tumble-down is worth nothing. |