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. [ 1913 Webster ]

There stumble steeds strong and down go all. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at what they stumble. Prov. iv. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

He stumbled up the dark avenue. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To fall into a crime or an error; to err. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion og stumbling in him. 1 John ii. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on, upon, or against. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Forth as she waddled in the brake,
A gray goose stumbled on a snake. C. Smart. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To cause to stumble or trip. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: To mislead; to confound; to perplex; to cause to err or to fall. [ 1913 Webster ]

False and dazzling fires to stumble men. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A trip in walking or running. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A blunder; a failure; a fall from rectitude. [ 1913 Webster ]

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who stumbles. [ 1913 Webster ]