▪ I. thumble, v.1 dial.
(ˈθʌmb(ə)l)
[f. thumb n.: cf. handle.]
trans. To touch with or as with the thumb; to handle clumsily; to fumble.
| 1623 Wily Beguiled C iv b, Stay quotha? To bee yauld and iauld at, and tumbled and thumbled [ed. 1606 tumbled and tumbled], and tost and turn'd as I am by an old Hagge. 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Thrumble, or Thumble, to handle awkwardly—to thumb. |
▪ II. † ˈthumble, v.2
[? f. rumble v., influenced by thunder.]
intr. To rumble as thunder.
| a 1608 Dee Relat. Spir. i. (1659) 59 Now it thumbleth [so MS.] again very terribly, as though a whole town should fall down into a great Valley. |
▪ III. thumble
obs. form of thimble.