| 释义 |
fumble, v.|ˈfʌmb(ə)l|
Also 6 fomble.
[Of obscure origin: equivalent forms exist in other Teut. langs.; cf. Du. fommelen, LG. fummeln, fommeln, Sw. fumla, to fumble, grope; prob. onomatopœic; cf. bumble, jumble, mumble, stumble, also famble, fimble vbs. Possibly the formation of the word may have been in part suggested by the n. which appears as OE. folm(e, OS. *folm (pl. folmos, OHG. folma hand; cf. ON. falma (Icel. fálma) to grope, with which Sw. famla, Da. famle (= famble v.) are commonly regarded as identical.]
1. a. intr. To use one's hands or fingers awkwardly or ineffectually; to grope about. to fumble at: to make clumsy attempts at doing or handling (something). to fumble for or fumble after: to make clumsy attempts to reach or grasp. Also to fumble about.
1534More On the Passion Wks. 1293/1 The dyuel..should not be able to reache hys [Christe's] heade..but only to fumble about his foote. 1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1858/2 She desired him to looke in his Testament. Then he fumbled and sought about him for one. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iii. 14 For after I saw him fumble with the Sheets, and play with Flowers.. I knew there was but one way. 1602Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 219 What made these paire of shittle-cockes heere? What doe they fumble for? a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 108 Those, that cannot play, delight to fumble on Instruments. 1739R. Bull tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 251 He vainly fumbles at the fatal Door. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) I. 288 If you set a man with gloves on, or a rustic whose hands are hard by labour to take off a single sheet, he will fumble about a long while. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 169 Seeing him lay down his pipe and begin to fumble with his walking-staff. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 361 The soldiers were still fumbling with the muzzles of their guns..when the whole flood of Macleans, Macdonalds, and Camerons came down. 1859Kingsley Misc. (1860) II. 139 He..fumbled for the bible in his boot. 1874Burnand My Time xiv. 119 ‘Let me see’ said [he]..fumbling about in all his pockets.
b. transf. and fig.
1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus iii. 5 He will be nibling and fumbling at all these as far as he dare. 1656H. More Enthus. Tri. (1662) 1 The foulness of his Mind makes him fumble very dotingly in the use thereof. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 683 Our Mechanick or Atomick Theists, will have their Atoms, never so much as once to have Fumbled, in these their Fortuitous Motions. 1686N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. v. (ed. 3) 47 If he [horse] fumbles with his Corn, then give him no more at that time. 1784J. Barry in Lect. Paint. vi. (1848) 223 Any artist..fumbling through three or four strata of colour before he can find them. 1870M. D. Conway Earthw. Pilgr. xxiii. 267 Englishmen are still fumbling about Mount Sinai in the East.
c. ? quasi-trans. with complement.
1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 110 A hostler fumbled the door open. 1887Punch 19 Mar. 143/2 Dizzy, then Premier, fumbled his eyeglass into position.
2. a. trans. To handle awkwardly or with nervous clumsiness. Also with on, out, over.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 174 And with a palsie fumbling on his Gorget, Shake in and out the Riuet. a1658Cleveland To T.C. 17 A Nut which when thou'st crack'd and fumbled o'er Thou'lt find the Squirrel has been there before. 1681Dryden Spanish Friar i. i, His greasy bald-pate choir Came fumbling o'er the beads, in such an agony, They told 'em false for fear. 1756Connoisseur No. 134 (1774) IV. 228 The old women..fumbling over their tattered testaments till they have found the text. 1801Gabrielli Myst. Husband I. 235 The fugitives..having fumbled out their bundles in the dark, first handed them to him. 1840Thackeray Bedford-Row Conspir. i, [He] came forward, looking very red, and fumbling two large kid gloves. 1894Sala Things I have seen II. xx. 254 The coin..I very soon tarnished by fumbling it..between my hot, moist little fingers.
fig.1895Westm. Gaz. 30 May 3/1 His incident must come to him naturally or he fumbles it.
b. spec. In games with a ball, to fumble the ball: to fail to take it ‘cleanly’; to stop or catch it clumsily.
c. to fumble one's way: to find it by groping.
1801Gabrielli Myst. Husb. III. 80 She started up, and fumbled her way down the dark stairs. 1879G. W. Cable Old Creole Days 13 Late that night a small square man..fumbled his way into the damp entrance.
3. To wrap up clumsily, huddle together. Also with up.
c1572Gascoigne Fruites Warre (1831) 212 Constreynd to sit..Close in a corner fumbled vp for feare. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 58 What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine armes? 1606― Tr. & Cr. iv. iv. 48 As many farwels as be stars in heauen, With distinct breath, and consign'd kisses to them, He fumbles vp into a loose adiew. 1621Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iii. xiii. 189 They send them [their women] forth so couered, vailed, and fumbled up. 1647Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 140 So many fumble this, last and next weeks devotion all in a prayer. 1681[see fumbling ppl. a. d]. 1830Fraser's Mag. I. 342 The attenuated, sham, filagree work..wherewith Mr. Thomas Moore has thought fit to fumble up the personages of his ‘Lalla Rookh’.
4. slang. (Cf. fumbler b, fumbling ppl. a. c.) Also absol. or intr.
1508Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 134 Ȝit leit I neuer that larbar..fumyll me, without a fee gret. c1690Sat. on Lawyers in Collect. Poems 18 Old Maynard..Who mumbles all Day, and fumbles all Night. 1754J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) II. 239 The old Man..rejoicing to see her return in Good-Humour, fumbled away the Night. 1762Goldsm. Nash 180 Impotent posterity would in vain fumble to produce his fellow.
5. a. intr. To hesitate in speaking; to speak haltingly or indistinctly; to mumble, mutter.
1563Homilies ii. Agst. Gluttony (1859) 305 A drunkard..fumbleth and stammereth in his speech. 1591Troub. Raigne K. John ii. (1611) 110 He fumbleth in the mouth, His speech doth faile. 1600Holland Livy xlii. xxvi. (1609) 1130 Being..found fumbling in their answere [hæsitantibus in responso] they were commaunded to void out of the Counsel-chamber. 1611[see famble v.]. 1647Trapp Comm. Matt. xxvii. 38 His tongue did so fumble and falter in his head. 1704Cibber Careless Husb. i. i, How silly a man fumbles for an excuse, when he is a little ashamed of being in love. 1828Scott F.M. Perth viii, Never lose time fumbling and prating about it.
b. trans. To speak (words, etc.) indistinctly or hesitatingly. Also with out, up.
1555Eden Decades 46 He fumbeleth certeyne confounded woordes with hym selfe. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 370 M. Heskins fombleth out the matter with a foolish caueat. 1583Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 74, I..With stutting stamering at length thus fumbled an answer. 1584Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 121 He blameth vs for fumbling vp those things, which we answered distinctlie inough. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 127 She fumbled out, thanks good, and so she dide. 1749Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. ccxiii. 319 As soon as I had fumbled out this answer.
6. Forming combs., as fumble-fisted, fumble-footed adjs.
1847Halliwell, Fumble-fisted, very awkward in handling things. Suffolk. 1877A. Sewell Black Beauty xxxi. 149, I don't know what is the matter with this horse, he goes very fumble-footed. 1926A. B. Smith Studies & Caprices 150 Music which even the most fumble-fisted can play with pleasure.
Hence ˈfumbled ppl. a. Also ˈfumble n., a piece of fumbling, a bungling attempt at something; spec. in ball games, a clumsy handling of the ball; † also, confused utterance, mumbling.
1647Ward Simp. Cobler 84 The world's a well strung fidle, mans tongue the quill, That fills the world with fumble for want of skill. c1831J. Wilson in Lang Life & Lett. Lockhart (1897) II. 109 He [Wilson] called Lockhart's remarks ‘a feeble fumble of falsehood’. 1884F. D. Millet in Harper's Mag. Dec. 134/1 The newspapers grew sticky, fumbled, and worn at the hands of the frequent readers. 1895Daily Chron. 17 Jan. 6/4 At the first fumble of a Surrey back, Maturin rushed round. |