dive English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) diven, duven, from the merger of (etyl) . See also (l), (l).
Verb
To swim under water.
To jump into water head-first.
* Whately
- It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them.
To descend sharply or steeply.
(especially with in ) To undertake with enthusiasm.
- She dove right in and started making improvements.
(sports) To deliberately fall down after a challenge, imitating being fouled, in the hope of getting one's opponent penalised.
To cause to descend, dunk; to plunge something into water.
- (Hooker)
To explore by diving; to plunge into.
* Denham
- The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of fame.
* Emerson
- He dives the hollow, climbs the steeps.
(figurative) To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore.
- (South)
Usage notes
The past tense dove'' is found chiefly in North American English, where it is used alongside the regular (and earlier) ''dived'', with regional variations; in British English ''dived'' is the standard past tense, ''dove'' existing only in some dialects. As a past participle, ''dove'' is relatively rare. (Compare ''Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary''; ''The American Heritage Dictionary''; ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage )
Related terms
* scuba diving
* duck dive
Noun
( en noun)
A jump or plunge into water.
A swim under water.
A decline.
(slang) A seedy bar, nightclub, etc.
(aviation) Aerial descend with the nose pointed down.
(sports) A deliberate fall after a challenge.
Related terms
* divebomb
* nosedive
* swandive/swan-dive/swan dive
Etymology 2
From (etyl); see diva.
Noun
(head)
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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.
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Derived terms
* tumble to
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