different between tumble vs wintle

English

Etymology

From Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”), frequentative of Middle English tumben (“to fall, leap, dance”), from Old English tumbian, from Proto-Germanic *t?m?n? (“to turn, rotate”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tumelen (whence Dutch tuimelen); Middle Low German tumelen, tummelen; and German taumeln.

Pronunciation

• enPR: t?m?b?l, IPA^(key): /?t?mbl?/
• Rhymes: -?mb?l
• Hyphenation: tum?ble

Noun

tumble (plural tumbles)

1. A fall, especially end over end.

   I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.

2. A disorderly heap.
   • 2008, David Joutras, A Ghost in the World (page 55)

     When at last we stopped in a tumble of bodies on the grass, laughing, and in Dad's case, out of breath, we were like little kids (I mean 5 or 6! After all I am 12!) at the end of a playground session.

3. (informal) An act of sexual intercourse.
   • 1940, 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?

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tumble (third-person singular simple present tumbles, present participle tumbling, simple past and past participle tumbled)

1. (intransitive) To fall end over end; to roll over and over.

   • He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.

   • 1907, Robert W. Chambers, The Younger Set

     “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. […]”
2. (intransitive) To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.
3. (intransitive) To drop rapidly.

4. (transitive) To smoothe and polish, e.g., gemstones or pebbles, by means of a rotating tumbler.
5. (intransitive, informal) To have sexual intercourse.
6. (intransitive) To move or rush in a headlong or uncontrolled way.
7. To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.

8. (cryptocurrencies) To obscure the audit trail of funds by means of a tumbler.
9. (obsolete, Britain, slang) To comprehend; often in tumble to.
   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor

     Speaking of this language, a costermonger said to me: "The Irish can't tumble to it anyhow; the Jews can tumble better, but we're their masters. Some of the young salesmen at Billingsgate understand us, — but only at Billingsgate; […]

Synonyms

• (to have sexual intercourse): bump uglies, have sex, roll around; see also Thesaurus:copulate
• (to make disorderly): mess up, touse

Derived terms

• tumble on
• tumble to

Translations

English

Etymology

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch windtelen (“to reel”); compare wentelen.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?nt?l

Verb

wintle (third-person singular simple present wintles, present participle wintling, simple past and past participle wintled)

1. (Scotland) To wind, to reel.
   • c. 1688-1746, Author not recorded, Cumberland and Murray's Descent into Hell, 1861, Charles Mackay (editor), The Jacobite Songs and Ballads of Scotland from 1688 to 1746, page 266,

     The worm of hell, which never dies, / In wintled coil writhes up and fries.

   • 1974, Austin Clarke, quoted in 1981, G. Craig Tapping, Austin Clarke: A Study of His Writings, page 282,

     Along the cliffs a breeze wintled.

2. (Scotland) To stagger, to sway or rock.
3. (Scotland) To tumble, to capsize.
   • 1901, George Douglas Brown, The House with the Green Shutters, 2011, page 214,

     At a quick turn o' the road they wintled owre, and there they were, sitting on their doups in the atoms o' the gig, and glowering frae them!

4. (Scotland) To wriggle.
   • 2002, Micaela Gilchrist, The Good Journey, US, page 222,

     Miss Radford wintled across the floor on her bottom until she slumped beside Eloise, who rolled her eyes and bared her lower teeth.

Derived terms

• wintler

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• Wintel