Tumblin

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. An informal spelling of the verb meaning to fall or roll over and over, often in a clumsy or uncontrolled way
2. A casual, dialect-style spelling of the present participle describing a body that drops, rolls or flips head over heels
3. Dropping or rolling end over end, as an informal written form of a word describing a fall or a playful somersault

Etymology: "Tumblin" is a clipped spelling of "tumbling," with the final g dropped, the way it is often written in song lyrics and informal speech. The spelling carries the sound of the word rather than a separate history, so the story lies in the base verb. That verb, "tumble," appears in Middle English as "tumblen," and it is generally traced to an Old English verb meaning to dance, leap, or roll about, which came from a Germanic root shared with Dutch "tuimelen," meaning to tumble or somersault. The sense of falling head over heels came later, while the older sense of rapid, acrobatic motion survives in "tumbler," the name for an acrobat, and in the "tumbler" pigeon, which was bred to somersault in flight.