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Webster 1913 Edition

Stagger

Stag′ger

(-gẽr)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Staggered
(-gẽrd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Staggering
.]
[OE.
stakeren
, Icel.
stakra
to push, to stagger, fr.
staka
to punt, push, stagger; cf. OD.
staggeren
to stagger. Cf.
Stake
,
Noun.
]
1.
To move to one side and the other, as if about to fall, in standing or walking; not to stand or walk with steadiness; to sway; to reel or totter.
Deep was the wound; he
staggered
with the blow.
Dryden.
2.
To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.
“The enemy staggers.”
Addison.
3.
To begin to doubt and waver in purpose; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.
He [Abraham]
staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief.
Rom. iv. 20.

Stag′ger

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To cause to reel or totter.
That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire
That
staggers
thus my person.
Shakespeare
2.
To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.
Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much
staggered
.
Howell.
Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to
stagger
credibility.
Burke.
3.
To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.

Stag′ger

,
Noun.
1.
An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; – often in the plural;
as, the
stagger
of a drunken man
.
2.
pl.
(Far.)
A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling;
as, parasitic
staggers
; apopletic or sleepy
staggers
.
3.
pl.
Bewilderment; perplexity.
[R.]
Shak.
Stomach staggers
(Far.)
,
distention of the stomach with food or gas, resulting in indigestion, frequently in death.

Webster 1828 Edition

Stagger

STAGGER

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To reel; to vacillate; to move to one side and the other in standing or walking; not to stand or walk with steadiness.
Deep was the wound; he staggerd with the blow.
2.
To fail; to cease to stand firm; to begin to give way.
The enemy staggers.
3.
To hesitate; to begin to doubt and waver in purpose; to become less confident or determined.
Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Romans 4.

Definition 2024

stagger

stagger

English

Noun

stagger ‎(plural staggers)

Tire stagger
  1. An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man.
  2. (veterinary medicine) A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; apoplectic or sleepy staggers.
  3. Bewilderment; perplexity.
  4. (motorsport) The difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners.[2]
  5. (aviation) The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another.

Translations

an unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing
  • Arabic: ترنح
  • Catalan: tentines f pl, trontoll (ca) m
  • Czech: vrávorání n, potácení se
  • Dutch: wankel (nl)
  • Finnish: hoipertelu (fi)
  • German: Schwanken n, Wanken n
  • Greek: παραπατώ (el) ‎(parapató)
  • Hungarian: botladozás
  • Maori: hīrori, wherori, hīrori, hīrorirori, hūrori, hūrorirori, whakatīkorokoro, hurori, tūrori, tūrorirori, tīmangamanga
  • Russian: шата́ние (ru) n ‎(šatánije)
  • Spanish: tambaleo (es)

Verb

stagger ‎(third-person singular simple present staggers, present participle staggering, simple past and past participle staggered)

  1. Sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.
    1. (intransitive) In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter.
      She began to stagger across the room.
      • Dryden
        Deep was the wound; he staggered with the blow.
    2. (transitive) To cause to reel or totter.
      The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.
      • Shakespeare
        That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire / That staggers thus my person.
    3. (intransitive) To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.
      • Addison
        The enemy staggers.
  2. Doubt, waver, be shocked.
    1. (intransitive) To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.
      • Bible, Rom. iv. 20
        He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
    2. (transitive) To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.
      He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.
      • Howell
        Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much staggered.
      • Burke
        Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility.
  3. (transitive) Multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly-spaced, times or places (attested from 1856[3]).
    1. To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.
    2. To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.
      We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.
    3. To schedule in intervals.
      We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.

Translations

See also

References

  1. ↑ Etymology in Online Etymology Dictionary
  2. ↑ Stock Car Racing magazine article on stagger, February 2009
  3. ↑ Etymology in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

Etymology

From Old Norse stakra (to push)[1].

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -æɡə(r)

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