tumble-
the verb-stem in combination:
1. with substantives: tumble-action, the tumbling action of a tumble-drier; tumble-bug = tumble-dung; tumble-car, -cart: see quots.; tumble-dung, name in U.S. for a scarabæid beetle which rolls up balls of dung, in which it deposits its eggs and in which the larvæ go through their transformations; a dung-beetle; also attrib.; tumble fruit, fallen fruit, windfalls; tumble-rose, a species of the parrot-fish, Scarus cæruleus, found on the Atlantic coast from southern U.S. to Brazil (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); † tumble-turd = tumble-dung; tumble-weed, name in U.S. for various plants which form a globular bush which in late summer is broken off and rolled about by the wind; a rolling weed (rolling ppl. a. 6).
| 1958 Sunday Times 9 Mar. 22/6 Here [in an electric washing machine] *tumble-action replaces a wringer. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 11 Dec. 9/1 Do not use tumble-action dryer. |
| 1805 R. Parkinson Tour Amer. 362 A kind of beetle, called a *tumble-bug,..in the summer forms a cave in the earth. 1848 Lowell Biglow Papers Ser. i. ii. 62 note, Tumblebug. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 86 The best known and most common beetle of this family in this country is the Canton lævis, usually termed the tumble-bug. |
| 1794 Bailey & Culley Agric. Cumberld. 31 We suppose they had the name of *tumble carrs, from the axle being made fast in the wheels, and the whole turning or tumbling round together. |
| 1887 Suppl. to Jamieson s.v., The *tumble-cart, tumbler, or car, continued in use in the upland districts till the beginning of the present century. |
| 1775 R. Twiss Trav. Portugal & Sp. 247 The beetle, known by the name of *tumble-dung. 1798 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1799) II. 355 The scarabæus carnifex, or tumble-dung-beetle. 1880 New Virginians I. 103 The humble rusty-black ‘tumbledung’. |
| 1891 B'ham Weekly Post 8 Aug. 4/7 Babies, like *tumble fruit, everywhere. |
| 1754 Catesby Carolina II. App., The *Tumble Turds. Scarabæus pillularis Americanus. Scarabæus carnifex, L. |
| 1887 Amer. Nat. Oct. 930 Amarantus albus, the common *tumble-weed. |
2. with adverbs:
tumble home, in a ship,
= tumbling home (
tumbling vbl. n. b); also
transf. of a motor vehicle;
tumble-over,
n. an act of falling over;
concr. a toy so weighted that it always takes a position of equilibrium; also
attrib. inclined to fall down, rickety, tottering;
tumble-up, a tumbler designed to be placed upside down on the neck of a carafe. See also
tumble-down.
| 1833 T. Richardson Merc. Marine Archit. 13 Giving only six inches *tumble home of the topside. 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 60 When the ship has considerable beam, the breadth of the channel is kept within reasonable limits by giving a ‘tumble home’ to the top-sides. 1924 Motor 7 Oct. 450/2 The body is of particularly pleasing lines, with a V windscreen and tumble-home stern. 1968 Motor Industry Res. Rep. ix. 25/1 Decreases due to increasing the canopy tumble-home. |
| 1883 Black Shandon Bells xxx, But the gable of the house is a leetle *tumble-over, isn't it? 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 380/1 Those lead-weighted, pith ‘tumble-overs’, with which we played when children. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 51 He was suddenly seized with intense darting pain in the region of the heart..accompanied by a sensation of ‘tumble over’ of the organ. |
| 1891 Sale Catal. Glass Wks. Stourbridge, Seventy-one *tumble-ups. |