▪ I. stumbling, vbl. n.
(ˈstʌmblɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb stumble, in various senses.
| a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 2623 Þare was stomling of stedis sticking of erles. 15.. King & Barker 106 in Ritson Anc. Pop. Poetry (1791) 64 With a stombellyng as he rode the thanner downe he [the horse] cast. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 598 He tolde him also without anye stayeng or stomblyng,..the names of all the colours that could be shewed him. 1611 Bible 1 John ii. 10 Hee that loueth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 1657 Hobbes Marks Absurd Geom. 4, I noted it only that you may be more merciful hereafter to the stumblings of a hasty Pen. 1818 Keats Endymion i. 703 To entice My stumblings down some monstrous precipice. 1873 G. S. Baden-Powell New Homes 184 Stumblings and injuries to legs are of remarkably rare occurrence. 1892–3 Froude Lect. Counc. Trent vi. (1896) 134 There was stumbling again at the power of the keys, and at the splendour and assumptions of the hierarchy. |
b. Comb.: stumbling-shoe, a horse-shoe devised to prevent stumbling; stumbling-† stock, -stone = stumbling-block.
| 1908 Animal Managem. (War Office) 367 *Stumbling shoes, 244 [In text: Shoes to obviate stumbling]. 1550 *Stumbling stock [see sister n. 3 c]. 1569 Roest tr. J. van der Noot's Theat. Worldlings 31 Christ is that stumbling stocke, and the stone of offense, whereat the world stumbled. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon (1714) II. 150 Richard Hooker..wrote a Book intitled The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, a great Stumbling-Stock to many, and not answered by any. 1841 Borrow Zincali II. ii. iii. 156 Many of which have long been stumbling-stocks to the philologist. |
| 1526 Tindale Rom. ix. 33 Beholde I put in syon a *stomblynge stone and a rocke which shall make men faule [Gr. λίθον προσκόµµατος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου]. 1567 Sat. Poems Reform. iii. 109 God he[t]is all that layis ane stumling stane, Quhilk may the cause be of our bretheringis fall. 1684 T. Burnet Theory Earth i. 294 The regularity of the universe was always a great stumbling-stone to the Epicuræans. ? 1780 Cowper tr. Bourne, Glow-worm 19 Nor crush a worm, whose useful light Might serve..To shew a stumbling stone by night. 1865 Swinburne Chastelard ii. i. (1894) 47 Some scurril children that lurked near Set there by Satan for my stumbling-stone. |
▪ II. stumbling, ppl. a.
(ˈstʌmblɪŋ)
[-ing2.]
That stumbles, in various senses of the verb.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 1042 [Avaricia loquitur:] Þerfore, Pryde, good broþyr,..late Iche of vs take at othyr, & set Mankynde on a stomlynge stol. 1538 Elyot Dict., Suffossus equus, a stumblynge horse. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 231 Her stombling steppe somewhat her amazed. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 383/1 Confragosus locus,..a rough, rugged, rockie or stumbling ground: vphill and downehill. 1727 Country-Post xi. in Swift's Miscell. II. 290 There have died of the falling Sickness two stumbling Horses, as also one of their Riders. 1859 Dickens etc. Haunted Ho. vii. 42/2 Then she heard him..go down stairs, with hurried, stumbling steps. 1859 Habits of Gd. Society xv. 372 The tearful, stumbling speeches of ‘dear papa’ after champagne [at the wedding breakfast]. a 1893 C. Rossetti Poems (1904) 209/1 Is there a path to Heaven My stumbling foot may tread? 1905 Treves Other Side of Lant. ii. xxvii. (1906) 164 Everywhere is the figure of the devout offering his stumbling prayer. |