tumbler (tumbler)

[ There is no tumbler Runs through his hoop with more dexterity Than I about this busine . Fletcher (and another ), Noble Gentleman, ii. 1. The tumbler is walking upon his hands. Strutt , Sports and Pastimes, p. 288. 2. [ cap.] One of the religious sect known as Dunkers. See Dunker1.-3. A breed of domestic pigeons which perform certain aërial evolutions called tumbling, during which they fall through the air for a distance before making play with their wings. This performance is an exaggeration of the sweeping or gyrating flight characteristic of wild pigeons, and an approach to it may be shown by any pigeons, when, for example, a hawk dashes into a flock. Tumblers have a short round head with high forehead and very short beak. tumbler They are cla ed in two series, those bred to flight and those bred to color. The former are the ordinary or flying tumblers, most noted for their performances in mid air: some are even trained to tumble in a room. Some tum: blers, known as Oriental rollers, are noted for leaving the flock individually and rising to execute the movement. Tumblers bred to color without special reference to their flight are of many strains, known by color-names, black, red, or yellow mottle, red or yellow agate, almond- splash, etc. 4. A kind of greyhound formerly used in coursing rabbits: so called in allusion to his characteristic motions and springs. I have seene A nimble tumbler on a burrow'd greene Bend cleane awry his course, yet give a checke And throw himselfe upon a rabbit's necke. W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 4. 5. A porpoise. [Scotch.] Delphin us Phocæna,. Scot. Pellock. Tumbler . Meres wine. Dr. Walker , E ays on Nat. Hist., p. 532. (Jamie son.) 6. The aquatic larva of a mosquito, gnat, or other member of the Culicidæ ; a wriggler: so called from the manner in which they roll over and over in the water. [Local, U. Š.]-7. A figure or toy representing a fat person, usually a mandarin, sitting with cro ed legs. The base of the figure is rounded, so as to rock at a touch. Her legs tucked up mysteriously under her gown into a round ball, so that her figure resembled in shape the plaster tumblers sold by the Italians. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 570. 8t. One of a band of London reckle profligates in the early part of the eighteenth century. A third sort [of Mohocks) are the tumblers, whose office it is to set women on their heads. Steele , Spectator, No. 324. 9. A drinking-gla . (a) One with a rounded or pointed bottom, so that it may not be set down without being emptied and inverted. (b) One without stem or foot, simply cylindrical or conical in form. She reminds him of days which he must remember, when she had a wine-gla out of poor Pa's tumbler. Thackeray, Philip, xxxviii. 10. A sort of spring-latch in a lock which detains the bolt so as to prevent its motion until a key lifts it and sets the bolt at liberty.11. Same as tumbling - box.-12. In a gun lock, a piece of the nature of a lever, attached to the C IMG:content-1047.png:[blocks in formation] the tip of the mainspring, which, when the hammer is released by pulling the trigger, forces the IMG:content-1048.png:[blocks in formation] a, body;, arbor; c, square; d, pivot; 6527 a gla of soda-water, etc., is set, for convenience in drinking. tumbler-lock (tum'bler-lok), n. A lock having a set of disks or latches which must be arranged in some particular way with reference to one another before the bolt can be shot. It is a form of permutation-lock. See cut under lock. tumbler-punch (tum'bler-punch), n. In gun smithing, a small punch with two blades, used, in taking a gun apart, to remove the arbor of the tumbler, etc.