stagger
/ˈstæɡɚ/ verb C1- 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.
- To cause to reel or totter. · The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.
- To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail. · 1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation· The enemy staggers.
- To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- To schedule in intervals or at different times. · We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.
He/she/it staggers · Past staggered · Past participle staggered · -ing form staggering
Verb forms
- Base form
- stagger
- He/she/it
- staggers
- Past
- staggered
- Past participle
- staggered
- -ing form
- staggering
From the library
"Yes, sir," said our prisoner, staggering slowly to his feet and then sinking into the chair.
In an instant the three of us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his feet, very pale and evidently greatly exhausted.
At this moment Danglars, who had been incessantly observing every change in Fernand’s look and manner, saw him stagger and fall back, with an almost convulsive spasm, against a seat placed near one of the open windows.
The two villains staggered back in utter amazement.
Other matches
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