ˈrumble-ˈtumble
[f. rumble v. + tumble v.]
1. = rumble n. 4. ? Obs.
| 1801 W. Felton Carriages II. App. 40 The rumbler, or rumble-tumble is a convenience fixed to the hind end of the carriage, and made to carry luggage. 1817 Keatinge Trav. II. 159 The important point whether the dicky or the rumble-tumble were the more honourable place. 1858 Lytton What will He do i. xv, From the dusty height of a rumble-tumble..Vance caught sight of Lionel and Sophy. |
2. A rumbling coach, carriage, or cart.
| 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vi. (ed. 3) I. 118 A name for a stage-coach which beats rumble-tumble, caterpillar, and every other English nick-name, out of the field. 1829 W. Irving Life & Lett. (1864) II. 406, I leave Granada this afternoon at five o'clock in a kind of rumble tumble, called a Tartana, on two wheels. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Rumble-Tumble, a large, old-fashioned unwieldy carriage. |
3. A rough or tumbling motion.
| 1878 Browning Poets Croisic xxii, Suiting, to rumble-tumble of the seas, The songs forbidden a serener clime. |
4. Scrambled eggs. Anglo-Indian.
| 1879 [see mumbled 2]. 1882 Indian Outfits, etc. 77 Buttered eggs, commonly called by the natives ‘rumble-tumble’. 1956 D. Walker Harry Black xiii. 192 ‘What's for breakfast?’ ‘Keventer's sausages and rumble-tumble,’ Christian said... She went off to feed the family..on sausages and scrambled eggs. 1966 J. & R. Godden Two under Indian Sun iii. 54 Rumble tumble, the Indian name for scrambled eggs. 1980 D. Hart-Davis Heights of Rimring vii. 74 The rumble-tumble was a mighty omelette with strips of onion in it, accompanied by fried potatoes. |