fumble
verb
- move ungracefully
noun
- in American and Canadian football, when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled) or scoring
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈfʌmbəl/ / /ˈfʊmbəl/
noun
Etymology: Blend of fool + crumble.
- A dessert similar to a cross between a fool and a crumble.
verb
Etymology: From late Middle English, from Low German fummeln, fommeln, fammeln (German fummeln), or Dutch fommelen. Or, perhaps from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source; compare related Old Norse fálma, Icelandic fálma, Danish fumle, especially Swedish fumla, famla, with variants: fumbla (“fumble”), fambla (“famble”), related to Swedish fim, fem (Danish fim, Norwegian fim, feima), with a root meaning of “cover, coating of foam or figuratively ditto”, cognate to German Feim (“surf”) and English foam. Possibly has (a more or less unconscious) connection to fathom (via Old Norse faðmr, Swedish famn) in the sense of “embrace”. The ultimate origin for either could perhaps be imitative of fumbling. Or, from Proto-Indo-European *pal- (“to shake, swing”), see also Latin palpo (“to pat, touch softly”), and possibly Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan (“to feel”).
- To handle nervously or awkwardly.
“Waiting for the interview, he fumbled with his tie.”
“He fumbled the key into the lock.”
- To grope awkwardly in trying to find something
“He fumbled for his keys.”
“He fumbled his way to the light-switch.”
- To blunder uncertainly.
“He fumbled through his prepared speech.”
- To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly.
“to fumble for an excuse”
“My understanding stutters, and my memory fumbles.”
- To drop a ball or a baton etc. by accident.
“Henderson's best strike on goal saw goalkeeper Kingson uncomfortably fumble his measured shot around the post.”
- To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.
“I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers.”
- Of a man, to sexually underperform.