Crossword clues for fumble
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fumble \Fum"ble\, v. t.
To handle or manage awkwardly; to crowd or tumble together.
--Shak.
Fumble \Fum"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fumbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Fumbling.] [Akin to D. fommelen to crumple, fumble, Sw. fumla to fusuble, famla to grope, Dan. famle to grope, fumble, Icel. falme, AS. folm palm of the hand. See Feel, and cf. Fanble, Palm.]
-
To feel or grope about; to make awkward attempts to do or find something.
Adams now began to fumble in his pockets.
--Fielding. -
To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly; as, to fumble for an excuse.
--Dryden.My understanding flutters and my memory fumbles.
--Chesterfield.Alas! how he fumbles about the domains.
--Wordsworth. -
To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.
I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers.
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., "handle clumsily," possibly from Old Norse falma "to fumble, grope." Similar words in Scandinavian and North Sea Germanic (Swedish fumla; Dutch fommelen) suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (compare bumble, stumble, and obsolete English famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning). Intransitive sense "do or seek awkwardly" is from 1530s. Sense in football is from 1889. Related: Fumbled; fumbling.
1640s, from fumble (v.).
Wiktionary
n. (context sports English) A ball etc. that has been dropped vb. (context transitive intransitive English) To idly touch or nervously handle
WordNet
n. (sports) dropping the ball [syn: muff]
v. feel about uncertainly or blindly; "She groped for her glasses in the darkness of the bedroom" [syn: grope]
make one's way clumsily or blindly; "He fumbled towards the door" [syn: blunder]
handle clumsily
make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement" [syn: botch, bumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up]
drop or juggle or fail to play cleanly a grounder; "fumble a grounder"
Wikipedia
Fumble is the fifth and final studio album by American hardcore band Scream, recorded December 1989 at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, and released in July 1993 through Dischord. It is notable for showcasing the band's expansion in style, towards a more post-hardcore sound with a Bad Brains influence, and also for having some of the first compositions of Dave Grohl.
Fumble were an English rock and roll revival group, that formed in 1967 and disbanded in 1982. They had specialised in covering rock and roll classics. Although they were never particularly successful, the band did achieve some recognition appearing at some festivals and on the television programme, Oh Boy!.
Fumble is a loss of ball possession in American football, and other ball sports.
Fumble may refer to:
A fumble in American and Canadian football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled) or scoring. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful handing that results in loss of player possession. A fumble may be forced by a defensive player who either grabs or punches the ball or butts the ball with his helmet (a move called "tackling the ball"). A fumbled ball may be recovered and advanced by either team (except, in American football, after the two-minute warning in either half or 4th down, when the fumbling player is the only offensive player allowed to advance the ball, otherwise the ball is ruled dead at the spot of recovery if the ball bounces backwards or spotted at the point of the fumble if the ball travels forward). It is one of three events that can cause a turnover (the other two being an interception or on downs, though the latter does not count toward the team's total turnovers), where possession of the ball can change during play.
Under American rules a fumble may be confused with a muff. A muff occurs where a player drops a ball that he does not have possession of, such as while attempting to catch a lateral pass or improperly fielding a kicking play such as a punt (you cannot "fumble" a loose ball). Ball security is the ability of a player to maintain control over the football during play and thus avoid a fumble.
Usage examples of "fumble".
We were a strange procession -- Dem Ria and Dem Loa sweeping down the steep staircase ahead of me, then me carrying the flechette pistol and fumbling the rucksack on my back, then little Bin followed by his sister, Ces Ambre, then, carefully locking the trapdoor behind him, Alem Mikail Dem Alem.
And behind it all I saw the ineffable malignity of primordial necromancy, black and amorphous, and fumbling greedily after me in the darkness to choke out the spirit that had dared to mock it by emulation.
A conclusion that sent Harold Smith scrambling for his green wastebasket and fumbling to his desktop an assortment of aspirins, antacids and other remedies.
They felt the slow, painful growth of the artist, the fumbling toward maturity of expression, the upheaval that had taken place in Paris, the passionate outburst of his powerful voice in Arles, which caught up all the strands of his years of labour.
They were chaffing her bawdily, one fumbling after her breasts, as the great wooden wheels rumbled by.
She bent forward and fumbled with a blue fishnet, down around what would have beien the floor of the cabin.
Still blindfolded, I fumbled with my swollen, numb fingers to find my cock.
His blunderbuss was underneath the borrowed overalls, and he had no time to fumble for it before his opponent had pounced on him and caught his throat in a deadly grip.
He fumbled with two fingers in the breast pocket of his warmsuit, felt the small booklet he had made up before leaving and pulled it out.
To cover the lapse he fumbled in his pocket, got out a cigarillo, and lit it.
Cal back down with the leather coat stuffed between his teeth, while Hazel fumbled with the straps beneath the colander to keep it in place.
As soon as we were alone I fell on the cruet, and, after a nerve-racking fumble, unearthed the syringe.
Querida watched Derk nervously fumbling for sugar and wondered what all the dogs were barking about in the distance.
After fumbling in his pocket, Dex produced a ring heavy with jingling keys.
Murcielago fumbled for something under his blanket, and Dowdy glanced back and forth between Richard and Lisa.