Stumble \Stum"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stumbled; p. pr. & vb.
   n. Stumbling.] [OE. stumblen, stomblen; freq. of a word
   akin to E. stammer. See Stammer.]
   1. To trip in walking or in moving in any way with the legs;
      to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall;
      to stagger because of a false step.
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            There stumble steeds strong and down go all.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at
            what they stumble.                    --Prov. iv.
                                                  19.
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   2. To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner.
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            He stumbled up the dark avenue.       --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   3. To fall into a crime or an error; to err.
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            He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and
            there is none occasion og stumbling in him. --1 John
                                                  ii. 10.
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   4. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without
      design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on, upon, or
      against.
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            Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a
            bath.                                 --Dryden.
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            Forth as she waddled in the brake,
            A gray goose stumbled on a snake.     --C. Smart.
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