Stumble intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stumbled ; present participle & verbal noun Stumbling .] [ Middle English stumblen , stomblen ; freq. of a word akin to English stammer . See Stammer .]
1. To trip in walking or in moving in any way with the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall; to stagger because of a false step.

There stumble steeds strong and down go all.

Chaucer.

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know at what they stumble .

Prov. iv. 19.

2. To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner.

He stumbled up the dark avenue.

Sir W. Scott.

3. To fall into a crime or an error; to err.

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion og stumbling in him.

1 John ii. 10.

4. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on , upon , or against .

Ovid stumbled , by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath.

Dryden.

Forth as she waddled in the brake,
A gray goose stumbled on a snake.

C. Smart.

Stumble transitive verb
1. To cause to stumble or trip.

2. Fig.: To mislead; to confound; to perplex; to cause to err or to fall.

False and dazzling fires to stumble men.

Milton.

One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.

Locke.

Stumble noun
1. A trip in walking or running.

2. A blunder; a failure; a fall from rectitude.

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

L'Estrange.

Stumbler noun One who stumbles.

Stumbling-block noun Any cause of stumbling, perplexity, or error.

We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block , and unto the Greeks foolishness.

1 Cor. i. 23.

Stumbling-stone noun A stumbling-block.

This stumbling-stone we hope to take away.

T. Burnet.

Stumblingly adverb In a stumbling manner.

Stump noun [ Middle English stumpe , stompe ; akin to Dutch stomp , German stumpf , Icelandic stumpr , Dan. & Swedish stump , and perhaps also to English stamp .]
1. The part of a tree or plant remaining in the earth after the stem or trunk is cut off; the stub.

2. The part of a limb or other body remaining after a part is amputated or destroyed; a fixed or rooted remnant; a stub; as, the stump of a leg, a finger, a tooth, or a broom.

3. plural The legs; as, to stir one's stumps . [ Slang]

4. (Cricket) One of the three pointed rods stuck in the ground to form a wicket and support the bails.

5. A short, thick roll of leather or paper, cut to a point, or any similar implement, used to rub down the lines of a crayon or pencil drawing, in shading it, or for shading drawings by producing tints and gradations from crayon, etc., in powder.

6. A pin in a tumbler lock which forms an obstruction to throwing the bolt, except when the gates of the tumblers are properly arranged, as by the key; a fence; also, a pin or projection in a lock to form a guide for a movable piece.

Leg stump (Cricket) , the stump nearest to the batsman. -- Off stump (Cricket) , the stump farthest from the batsman. -- Stump tracery (Architecture) , a term used to describe late German Gothic tracery, in which the molded bar seems to pass through itself in its convolutions, and is then cut off short, so that a section of the molding is seen at the end of each similar stump. -- To go on the stump , or To take the stump , to engage in making public addresses for electioneering purposes; -- a phrase derived from the practice of using a stump for a speaker's platform in newly-settled districts. Hence also the phrases stump orator , stump speaker , stump speech , stump oratory , etc. [ Colloq. U.S.]

Stump transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stumped ; present participle & verbal noun Stumping .]
1. To cut off a part of; to reduce to a stump; to lop.

Around the stumped top soft moss did grow.

Dr. H. More.

2. To strike, as the toes, against a stone or something fixed; to stub. [ Colloq.]

3. To challenge; also, to nonplus. [ Colloq.]

4. To travel over, delivering speeches for electioneering purposes; as, to stump a State, or a district. See To go on the stump , under Stump , noun [ Colloq. U.S.]

5. (Cricket) (a) To put (a batsman) out of play by knocking off the bail, or knocking down the stumps of the wicket he is defending while he is off his allotted ground; -- sometimes with out . T. Hughes. (b) To bowl down the stumps of, as, of a wicket.

A herd of boys with clamor bowled,
And stumped the wicket.

Tennyson.

To stump it . (a) To go afoot; hence, to run away; to escape . [ Slang] Ld. Lytton. (b) To make electioneering speeches. [ Colloq. U.S.]

Stump intransitive verb To walk clumsily, as if on stumps.

To stump up , to pay cash. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Stump-tailed adjective Having a short, thick tail.

Stump-tailed lizard (Zoology) , a singular Australian scincoid lizard ( Trachydosaurus rugosus ) having a short, thick tail resembling its head in form; -- called also sleeping lizard .

Stumpage noun
1. Timber in standing trees, -- often sold without the land at a fixed price per tree or per stump, the stumps being counted when the land is cleared. [ Local, U.S.]

Only trees above a certain size are allowed to be cut by loggers buying stumpage from the owners of land.

C. S. Sargent.

2. A tax on the amount of timber cut, regulated by the price of lumber. [ Local, U.S.] The Nation.

Stumper noun
1. One who stumps.

2. A boastful person. [ Slang]

3. A puzzling or incredible story. [ Slang, U.S.]

Stumpiness noun The state of being stumpy.

Stumpy adjective
1. Full of stumps; hard; strong.

2. Short and thick; stubby. [ Colloq.] "A stumpy little man." J. C. Harris.

Stun transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stunned ; present participle & verbal noun Stunning .] [ Middle English stonien , stownien ; either from Anglo-Saxon stunian to resound (cf. Dutch stenen to groan, German stöhnen , Icelandic stynja , Greek ..., Sanskrit stan to thunder, and English thunder ), or from the same source as English astonish . √168.]
1. To make senseless or dizzy by violence; to render senseless by a blow, as on the head.

One hung a poleax at his saddlebow,
And one a heavy mace to stun the foe.

Dryden.

2. To dull or deaden the sensibility of; to overcome; especially, to overpower one's sense of hearing.

And stunned him with the music of the spheres.

Pope.

3. To astonish; to overpower; to bewilder.

William was quite stunned at my discourse.

De Foe.

Stun noun The condition of being stunned.

Stundist noun [ Russian shtundist , probably from German stunde hour; -- from their meetings for Bible reading.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of a large sect of Russian dissenters founded, about 1860, in the village of Osnova, near Odessa, by a peasant, Onishchenko, who had apparently been influenced by a German sect settled near there. They zealously practice Bible reading and reject priestly dominion and all external rites of worship. -- Stun"dism noun

Stung imperfect & past participle of Sting .

Stunk imperfect & past participle of Stink .

Stunner noun
1. One who, or that which, stuns.

2. Something striking or amazing in quality; something of extraordinary excellence. [ Slang] Thackeray.

Stunning adjective
1. Overpowering consciousness; overpowering the senses; especially, overpowering the sense of hearing; confounding with noise.

2. Striking or overpowering with astonishment, especially on account of excellence; as, stunning poetry. [ Slang] C. Kingsley. -- Stun"ning*ly , adverb [ Slang]

Stunsail noun (Nautical) A contraction of Studding sail .

With every rag set, stunsails , sky scrapers and all.

Lowell.

Stunt transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stunted ; present participle & verbal noun Stunting .] [ See Stint .] To hinder from growing to the natural size; to prevent the growth of; to stint, to dwarf; as, to stunt a child; to stunt a plant.

When, by a cold penury, I blast the abilities of a nation, and stunt the growth of its active energies, the ill or may do is beyond all calculation.

Burke.

Stunt noun
1. A check in growth; also, that which has been checked in growth; a stunted animal or thing.

2. Specifically: A whale two years old, which, having been weaned, is lean, and yields but little blubber.

Stunt noun [ Confer Stint a task.] A feat hard to perform; an act which is striking for the skill, strength, or the like, required to do it; a feat. [ Colloq.]

An extraordinary man does three or four different " stunts " with remarkable dexterity.

The Bookman.

He does not try to do stunts ; and, above all, he does not care to go in swimming.

Latin Hutton.

Stunted adjective Dwarfed. -- Stunt"ed*ness , noun

Stuntness noun Stuntedness; brevity. [ R.] Earle.

Stupa (stō"pȧ) noun [ Sanskrit stūpa .] A mound or monument commemorative of Buddha.

Stupa (stū"pȧ) noun [ Latin ] (Medicine) See 1st Stupe .

Stupe noun [ Latin stupa , or better stuppa , tow. Confer Stop , transitive verb ] (Medicine) Cloth or flax dipped in warm water or medicaments and applied to a hurt or sore.

Stupe transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stuped ; present participle & verbal noun Stuping .] To foment with a stupe. Wiseman.

Stupe noun [ See Stupid .] A stupid person. [ Obsolete]

Stupefacient adjective [ Latin stupefaciens , present participle of stupefacere to stupefy; stupere to be stupefied + facere to make. Confer Stupefy .] [ Written also stupifacient .] Producing stupefaction; stupefactive. -- noun (Medicine) Anything promoting stupefaction; a narcotic.

Stupefaction noun [ Confer French stupéfaction . See Stupefacient .] The act of stupefying, or the state of being stupefied. [ Written also stupifaction .]

Resistance of the dictates of conscience brings a hardness and stupefaction upon it.

South.

Stupefactive adjective & noun [ Confer French stupéfactif , Late Latin stupefactivus .] Same as Stupefacient . [ Written also stupifactive .]

Stupefied adjective Having been made stupid.

Stupefiedness noun Quality of being stupid.

Stupefier noun One who, or that which, stupefies; a stupefying agent.

Stupefy transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stupefied ; present participle & verbal noun Stupefying .] [ French stupéfier , from Latin stupere to be stupefied + ficare (in comp.) to make, akin to facere . See Stupid , Fact , and confer Stupefacient .] [ Written also stupify , especially in England.]
1. To make stupid; to make dull; to blunt the faculty of perception or understanding in; to deprive of sensibility; to make torpid.

The fumes of drink discompose and stupefy the brain.

South.

2. To deprive of material mobility. [ Obsolete]

It is not malleable; but yet is not fluent, but stupefied .

Bacon.

Stupendous adjective [ Latin stupendus astonishing, p. future pass. of stupere to be astonished at. Confer Stupid .] Astonishing; wonderful; amazing; especially, astonishing in magnitude or elevation; as, a stupendous pile. "A stupendous sum." Macaulay.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole.

Pope.

-- Stu*pen"dous*ly , adverb -- Stu*pen"dous*ness , noun

Stupeous adjective [ Latin stupa , or better stuppa , tow; confer Latin stuppeus made of tow. Confer Stupose .] Resembling tow; having long, loose scales, or matted filaments, like tow; stupose.

Stupid adjective [ Latin stupidus , from stupere to be stupefied: confer French stupide .]
1. Very dull; insensible; senseless; wanting in understanding; heavy; sluggish; in a state of stupor; -- said of persons.

O that men . . . should be so stupid grown . . .
As to forsake the living God!

Milton.

With wild surprise,
A moment stupid , motionless he stood.

Thomson.

2. Resulting from, or evincing, stupidity; formed without skill or genius; dull; heavy; -- said of things.

Observe what loads of stupid rhymes
Oppress us in corrupted times.

Swift.

Syn. -- Simple; insensible; sluggish; senseless; doltish; sottish; dull; heavy; clodpated. -- Stu"pid*ly adverb -- Stu"pid*ness , noun

Stupidity noun [ Latin stupiditas : confer French stupidité .]
1. The quality or state of being stupid; extreme dullness of perception or understanding; insensibility; sluggishness.

2. Stupor; astonishment; stupefaction. [ R.]

A stupidity
Past admiration strikes me, joined with fear.

Chapman.

Stupify transitive verb See Stupefy .

Stupor noun [ Latin , from stupere to be struck senseless.]
1. Great diminution or suspension of sensibility; suppression of sense or feeling; lethargy.

2. Intellectual insensibility; moral stupidity; heedlessness or inattention to one's interests.

Stupose adjective [ Latin stupa , or better stuppa , tow. Confer Stupeous .] (Botany) Composed of, or having, tufted or matted filaments like tow; stupeous.

Stuprate transitive verb [ Latin stupratus , past participle of stuprare to ravish, from stuprum defilement.] To ravish; to debauch. [ R.] Heywood.

Stupration noun Violation of chastity by force; rape. [ R.] Sir T. Browne.

Stuprum noun [ Latin ] Stupration.

Sturb transitive verb To disturb. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Sturdily adverb In a sturdy manner.