staggers

stag·ger  (stgr)

v. stag·gered, stag·ger·ing, stag·gers

v.intr.

1. To move or stand unsteadily, as if under a great weight; totter.

2. To begin to lose confidence or strength of purpose; waver.

v.tr.

1. To cause to totter, sway, or reel: The blow staggered him.

2.

a. To overwhelm with emotion or astonishment.

b. To cause to waver or lose confidence.

3. To place on or as if on alternating sides of a center line; set in a zigzag row or rows: theater seats that were staggered for clear viewing.

4. To arrange in alternating or overlapping time periods: staggered the nurses' shifts.

5. To arrange (the wings of a biplane) so that the leading edge of one wing is either ahead of or behind the leading edge of the other wing.

6. Sports To arrange (the start of a race) with the starting point in the outside lanes progressively closer to the finish line so as to neutralize the advantage of competing in the shorter inside lanes.

n.

1. A tottering, swaying, or reeling motion.

2. A staggered pattern, arrangement, or order.

3. staggers (used with a sing. verb) Any of various diseases of the nervous system in animals, especially horses, cattle, or other domestic animals, characterized by a lack of coordination in moving, a staggering gait, and frequent falling. Also called blind staggers.

---

[Alteration of Middle English stakeren, from Old Norse stakra, frequentative of staka, to push.]

---

stagger·er n.

stagger·y adj.

---

staggers [ˈstægəz]

n (functioning as singular or plural)

1. (Medicine / Pathology) a form of vertigo associated with decompression sickness

2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Veterinary Science) Also called blind staggers a disease of horses and some other domestic animals characterized by a swaying unsteady gait, caused by infection, toxins, or lesions of the central nervous system

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

staggers - a disease of the central nervous system affecting especially horses and cattle; characterized by an unsteady swaying gait and frequent falling blind staggers animal disease - a disease that typically does not affect human beings