(~s, tumbling, ~d)
1.
If someone or something ~s somewhere, they fall there with a rolling or bouncing movement.
A small boy ~d off a third floor fire escape...
He fell to the ground, and the gun ~d out of his hand.
VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv
•
Tumble is also a noun.
He injured his ribs in a ~ from his horse.
N-COUNT: usu sing
2.
If prices or levels of something are tumbling, they are decreasing rapidly. (JOURNALISM)
House prices have ~d by almost 30 per cent in real terms since mid-1989...
Share prices continued to ~ today on the Tokyo stock market.
...tumbling inflation.
VERB: V by/from/to amount, V, V-ing
•
Tumble is also a noun.
Oil prices took a ~ yesterday.
N-COUNT: usu sing
3.
If water ~s, it flows quickly over an uneven surface.
Waterfalls crash and ~ over rocks.
...the aromatic pines and tumbling streams of the Zonba Plateau.
VERB: V prep, V-ing
4.
If you say that someone ~s into a situation or place, you mean that they get into it without being fully in control of themselves or knowing what they are doing. (mainly BRIT)
Many mothers and children ~ into poverty after divorce...
VERB: V into n
5.
see also rough and ~