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fumble

   Also found in: Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
fum·ble  (fmbl)
v. fum·bled, fum·bling, fum·bles
v.intr.
1. To touch or handle nervously or idly: fumble with a necktie.
2. To grope awkwardly to find or to accomplish something: fumble for a key.
3. To proceed awkwardly and uncertainly; blunder: fumble through a speech.
4.
a. Football To drop a ball that is in play.
b. Baseball To mishandle a ground ball.
v.tr.
1. To touch or handle clumsily or idly: "fumbled the receiver into its cradle" (Howard Kaplan).
2. To make a mess of; bungle. See Synonyms at botch.
3. To feel or make (one's way) awkwardly.
4.
a. Football To drop (a ball) while in play.
b. Baseball To mishandle (a ground ball).
n.
1. The act or an instance of fumbling.
2. Sports A ball that has been fumbled.

[Middle English fomelen, to grope.]

fumbler n.

fumble [ˈfʌmbəl]
vb
1. (intr; often foll by for or with) to grope about clumsily or blindly, esp in searching he was fumbling in the dark for the money he had dropped
2. (intr; foll by at or with) to finger or play with, esp in an absent-minded way
3. to say or do hesitantly or awkwardly he fumbled the introduction badly
4. (General Sporting Terms) to fail to catch or grasp (a ball, etc.) cleanly
n
the act of fumbling
[probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish fumla]
fumbler  n
fumblingly  adv
fumblingness  n
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.fumblefumble - (sports) dropping the ball          
blooper, blunder, boner, boo-boo, botch, bungle, flub, foul-up, fuckup, pratfall, bloomer - an embarrassing mistake
American football, American football game - a game played by two teams of 11 players on a rectangular field 100 yards long; teams try to get possession of the ball and advance it across the opponents goal line in a series of (running or passing) plays
baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball game on every empty lot"; "there was a desire for National League ball in the area"; "play ball!"
Verb1.fumble - feel about uncertainly or blindly; "She groped for her glasses in the darkness of the bedroom"
look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the missing man in the entire county"
2.fumble - make one's way clumsily or blindly; "He fumbled towards the door"
go across, pass, go through - go across or through; "We passed the point where the police car had parked"; "A terrible thought went through his mind"
3.fumble - handle clumsily
palm, handle - touch, lift, or hold with the hands; "Don't handle the merchandise"
4.fumble - 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"
go wrong, miscarry, fail - be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
5.fumble - drop or juggle or fail to play cleanly a grounder; "fumble a grounder"
baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball game on every empty lot"; "there was a desire for National League ball in the area"; "play ball!"
play - participate in games or sport; "We played hockey all afternoon"; "play cards"; "Pele played for the Brazilian teams in many important matches"

fumble
verb
1. grope, flounder, paw (informal), scrabble, feel around She crept from the bed and fumbled for her dressing gown.
2. stumble, struggle, blunder, flounder, bumble I fumbled around like an idiot.
3. bungle, spoil, botch, mess up, cock up (Brit. slang), mishandle, fuck up (offensive taboo slang), mismanage, muff, make a hash of (informal), make a nonsense of, bodge (informal), misfield I'd hate to fumble a chance like this.
noun
miss, mistake, slip, fault, error, blunder, botch, cock-up (slang), bodge (informal) Fans cheered a fumble by the home team's star.
Translations
fumble [ˈfʌmbl]
A. VT (= drop) → dejar caer; (= handle badly) → manosear, coger or (LAm) agarrar con torpeza
to fumble one's way alongir a tientas
B. VI (also fumble about) → hurgar
to fumble in one's pocketshurgar en los bolsillos
to fumble for sthbuscar algo con las manos
to fumble for a wordtitubear buscando una palabra
to fumble with sthmanejar algo torpemente
to fumble with a doorforcejear para abrir una puerta

fumble [ˈfʌmbəl]
vt [+ ball] → mal réceptionner, cafouiller
fumble for
vtfouiller pour trouver
fumble with
vt fustripoter

fumble
vi (also fumble about or around)umhertasten or -tappen; to fumble in the darkim Dunkeln herumtasten or -tappen; to fumble in one’s pocketsin seinen Taschen wühlen; to fumble (about) for somethingnach etw suchen or tasten; (in case, pocket, drawer) → nach etw wühlen; to fumble with somethingan etw (dat)herumfummeln; to fumble for wordsnach Worten suchen or ringen
vtvermasseln (inf), → verpfuschen (inf); to fumble the ballden Ball nicht sicher fangen

fumble [ˈfʌmbl]
1. vi (also fumble about) to fumble (about) in one's pocketsfrugare or rovistare nelle tasche
to fumble in the dark → andare a tastoni or a tentoni, brancolare
to fumble with sth → armeggiare con qc
2. vt to fumble a catchmancare una presa
to fumble a ball → lasciarsi sfuggire di mano una palla

fumble [ˈfʌmbl]
1. vi (also fumble about) to fumble (about) in one's pocketsfrugare or rovistare nelle tasche
to fumble in the dark → andare a tastoni or a tentoni, brancolare
to fumble with sth → armeggiare con qc
2. vt to fumble a catchmancare una presa
to fumble a ball → lasciarsi sfuggire di mano una palla

fumble
v fumble [ˈfambl]
1 to use one's hands awkwardly and with difficulty He fumbled with the key; She fumbled about in her bag for her key. rondtas يَستَعْمِلُ يَدَيْه بارْتِباك бърникам pohrávat si; šmátrat fumle herumfummeln παίζω με τα χέρια μου αδέξια buscar/revolver a tientas/torpemente, manejar torpemente kohmitsema کورمال کردن hapuilla tâtonner לְגַשֵׁש बेढंगे तरीके से टटोलना nespretno rukovati, tražiti kotorászik mencari-cari fálma, gera klaufalega armeggiare; frugare 手探りする 서투르게 만지다 grabalioti, grabinėti grābstīties; taustīties (kaut ko meklējot); ņurcīt; neveikli rīkoties meraba-raba onhandig doen famle, fomle, rote gmerać, grzebać remexer a dibui копаться pohrávať sa; šmátrať tipati (z, za) petljati fumla, rota, gräva คลำหรือจับอย่างงุ่มง่าม el yordamıyla ara(n)mak 亂摸, 摸索 намацувати ٹٹولنا dò dẫm; sờ soạng ,
2 to drop a ball (clumsily), or fail to hold or catch it. onhandig wees يَرمي الطّابَة أو يَتَلَقّاها بارتِباك изпортвам (топка) upustit/nechytit/zkazit míč tabe; miste den Ball fallen lassen κρατώ αδέξια dejar caer kohmerdama افتادن توپ از دست sählätä fouiller לְהַשמִיט हाथ से इधर-उधर पलटना ispustiti (loptu) ügyetlenül kezel menjatuhkan/gagal menangkap bola lasciarsi sfuggire (球を)ファンブルする 공을 놓치다 prarasti/išleisti iš rankų kamuolį netrāpīt (bumbai); nenoķert (bumbu) terkial-kial hendak menangkap laten vallen miste/rote vekk ballen stracić a dibui упустить мяч nezachytiť letiacu loptu nerodno prijeti žogo ispustiti missa, tappa รับลูกบอลไม่ได้ หรือทำลูกบอลหลุดมือ beceriksizce tutmak (在球賽中)失球 не втримати м'яча گیند کو روک نہ سکنا làm việc gì một cách lóng ngóng, vụng về


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The youth sat down obediently and the cor- poral, laying aside his rifle, began to fumble in the bushy hair of his comrade.
cried the old man, and he began to fumble for his snuff-box.
And to clinch the argument, there were the several Congressmen who testified to having seen Ernest fumble and drop the bomb.
 
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