tumble English
Noun
( en noun)
A fall.
- I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.
An act of sexual intercourse.
* John Betjeman, Group Life: Letchworth
- Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?
* 1979 , Martine, Sexual Astrology (page 219)
- When you've just had a tumble between the sheets and are feeling rumpled and lazy, she may want to get up so she can make the bed.
Derived terms
* rough and tumble
* take a tumble
* tumble dryer
* tumbler
* give a tumble
Verb
(tumbl)
(lb) To fall end over end.
*(Robert South) (1634–1716)
*:He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.
*
*:“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are'' pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling ''à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.”
To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.
:(Rowe)
To roll over and over.
*1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
*:The two animals tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get inside, and heard the door shut behind them with great joy and relief.
(lb) To have sexual intercourse.
(lb) To smooth and polish a rough surface on relatively small parts.
To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.
:
Derived terms
* tumble to
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plummet English
Noun
( en noun)
(archaic) A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water.
* 1610 , , act 3 scene 3
- I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded.
(archaic) A plumb bob or a plumb line.
(archaic) Hence, any weight.
* 1945, , Here is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe , The World Publishing Company (1945), page #93:
- His parachute was shot half away, and if he'd jumped he would have fallen like a plummet .
(archaic) A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing
a plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line.
Violent or dramatic fall
(figuratively) decline; fall; drop
* {{quote-news
, year=2010
, date=December 29
, author=Chris Whyatt
, title=Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton
, work=BBC
citation
, page=
, passage=Yet another seriously under-par performance is unlikely to provide any real answers to their remarkable plummet in form - but it proves they can at least churn out a much-needed result. }}
Verb
To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.
- After its ascent, the arrow plummeted to earth.
Synonyms
* (to drop swiftly) dive, drop, fall
Antonyms
* (to drop swiftly) ascend, rise, rocket, soar, skyrocket
See also
* plumb line
* plumb
References
*
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