tumble

tum|ble1 [ `tʌmbl ] verb intransitive

1. ) if a price or value tumbles, it suddenly becomes much lower:

Unemployment tumbled to 5.6% in November.

2. ) if a building or other structure tumbles or tumbles down, it falls to the ground:

It seemed that the walls had tumbled from the inside.

a ) if an organization or system tumbles, it suddenly stops existing:

Communism came tumbling down all over Eastern Europe.

3. ) if someone tumbles, they fall to the ground

a ) to do GYMNASTIC movements in which you roll your body over on the floor

4. ) if water tumbles somewhere, a lot of it flows there

a ) used about large amounts of other things that move:

Great white clouds tumbled over the mountain peaks above us.

b ) used about long hair that hangs down:

Long dark hair tumbled down her back.

,tumble `into phrasal verb transitive

tumble into something if you tumble into a situation, you get into it without really trying to or without knowing what you are doing:

I never studied acting I just kind of tumbled into it.

`tumble ,to phrasal verb transitive tumble to something

1. ) INFORMAL to realize or understand something

2. ) if you tumble to something such as a solution, you discover it suddenly

tumble

tum|ble 2 [ `tʌmbl ] noun

1. ) count a sudden fall in something such as a price or value:

take a tumble: The dollar took its biggest tumble in over two years.

2. ) count an occasion when someone falls to the ground

3. ) singular a mass of hair:

her red hair flashing in a tumble of angry waves