fumble

Meanings

Verb

• To handle nervously or awkwardly.
• To grope awkwardly in trying to find something
• To blunder uncertainly.
• To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly.
• To drop a ball or a baton etc. by accident.
• To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.

Noun

• A ball etc. that has been dropped by accident.
• A dessert similar to a cross between a fool and a crumble.

Origin

• Late Middle English, from Low German fommeln or Dutch fommelen.
• Or, perhaps from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source; compare Old Norse fálma, Swedish fumla, Danish fumle, German fummeln.
• The ultimate origin for either could perhaps be imitative of fumbling. Or, from Proto-Indo-European *pal- ("to shake, swing"), see also Latin palpo ("I pat, touch softly"), and possibly Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan.