Adjacent Words

Stagger definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STAGGER, v.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.
STAGGER, v.t.
1. To cause to reel.
2. To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.
Whoever will read the story of this war, will find himself much staggered.
When a prince fails in honor and justice, it is enough to stagger his people in their allegiance.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an unsteady uneven gait [syn: lurch, stumble, stagger] v
1: walk as if unable to control one's movements; "The drunken man staggered into the room" [syn: stagger, reel, keel, lurch, swag, careen]
2: walk with great difficulty; "He staggered along in the heavy snow" [syn: stagger, flounder]
3: to arrange in a systematic order; "stagger the chairs in the lecture hall" [syn: stagger, distribute]
4: astound or overwhelm, as with shock; "She was staggered with bills after she tried to rebuild her house following the earthquake"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (staggered; staggering) Etymology: alteration of earlier stacker, from Middle English stakeren, from Old Norse stakra, frequentative of staka to push; perhaps akin to Old English staca stake — more at stake Date: 15th century intransitive verb 1. a. to reel from side to side ; totter b. to move on unsteadily <staggered toward the door> 2. to waver in purpose or action ; hesitate 3. to rock violently <the ship staggered> transitive verb 1. to cause to doubt or hesitate ; perplex 2. to cause to reel or totter 3. to arrange in any of various zigzags, alternations, or overlappings of position or time <stagger work shifts> <stagger teeth on a cutter> • staggerer noun II. noun Date: 1577 1. plural but singular or plural in construction an abnormal condition of domestic animals associated with damage to the central nervous system and marked by incoordination and a reeling unsteady gait 2. a reeling or unsteady gait or stance 3. an arrangement in which the leading edge of the upper wing of a biplane is advanced over that of the lower III. adjective Date: 1918 marked by an alternating or overlapping pattern

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 a intr. walk unsteadily, totter. b tr. cause to totter (was staggered by the blow). 2 a tr. shock, confuse; cause to hesitate or waver (the question staggered them; they were staggered at the suggestion). b intr. hesitate; waver in purpose. 3 tr. arrange (events, hours of work, etc.) so that they do not coincide. 4 tr. arrange (objects) so that they are not in line, esp.: a arrange (a road-crossing) so that the side-roads are not in line. b set (the spokes of a wheel) to incline alternately to right and left. --n. 1 a tottering movement. 2 (in pl.) a a disease of the brain and spinal cord esp. in horses and cattle, causing staggering. b giddiness. 3 an overhanging or slantwise or zigzag arrangement of like parts in a structure etc. Derivatives: staggerer n. Etymology: alt. of ME stacker (now dial.) f. ON stakra frequent. of staka push, stagger

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stagger Stag"ger, v. t. 1. To cause to reel or totter. That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire That staggers thus my person. --Shak. 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 stagered. --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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stagger Stag"ger, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Staggered; 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, n.] 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 purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. --Rom. iv. 20.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stagger Stag"ger, n. 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; appopletic 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(staggers, staggering, staggered) 1. If you stagger, you walk very unsteadily, for example because you are ill or drunk. He lost his balance, staggered back against the rail and toppled over... He was staggering and had to lean on the bar. VERB: V adv/prep, V 2. If you say that someone or something staggers on, you mean that it is only just succeeds in continuing. Truman allowed him to stagger on for nearly another two years. VERB: V adv/prep 3. If something staggers you, it surprises you very much. The whole thing staggers me. VERB: V n • staggered I was simply staggered by the heat of the Argentinian high-summer. ADJ: v-link ADJ 4. To stagger things such as people's holidays or hours of work means to arrange them so that they do not all happen at the same time. During the past few years the government has staggered the summer vacation periods for students. VERB: V n 5. see also staggering

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Reel, totter, vacillate. 2. Fail, waver, give way. 3. Hesitate, waver, doubt. II. v. a. Shock, astonish, astound, amaze, confound, dumfound, pose, surprise, nonplus, strike with wonder, take by surprise.

Moby Thesaurus

affright, agitate, alarm, alternate, amaze, amble, amplitude, arrhythmia, astonish, astound, awe, awestrike, back and fill, barge, be drunk, be incredible, be intoxicated, be unbelievable, bedaze, bedazzle, bewilder, blunder, boggle, bowl along, bowl down, bowl over, brokenness, bundle, burden, camber, capriciousness, capsize, careen, career, choppiness, clump, come a cropper, confound, crack, crankle, curdle the blood, daze, dazzle, desultoriness, devastate, discombobulate, discompose, disconcert, disconnectedness, discontinuity, disquiet, disturb, dither, do, drag, droop, dumbfound, dumbfounder, ebb and flow, eccentricity, electrify, erraticness, fall, fall down, fall flat, fall headlong, fall over, fall prostrate, falter, fare, fibrillation, fill with doubt, fitfulness, fits and starts, flabbergast, flight path, floor, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, fluctuation, flummox, flurry, fluster, flutter, foot, footslog, fright, frighten, funk, fuss, gait, gallop, get, get a cropper, go, go through phases, halt, have two minds, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hop, horripilate, inconstancy, intermittence, irregularity, jar, jerkiness, jog, jolt, jump, knock over, labor, limp, list, lock step, lumber, lunge, lurch, make one tremble, mince, mincing steps, muddle through, nonplus, nonuniformity, oscillate, overcome, overpower, overwhelm, pace, paddle, paralyze, pass belief, pass out, patchiness, peg, pendulate, perplex, perturb, petrify, piaffe, piaffer, pitch, pitch and plunge, plod, plunge, pop, prance, puzzle, rack, raise apprehensions, rattle, rearrange, reel, ring the changes, rock, roll, roughness, ruffle, sashay, saunter, scare, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, see double, seesaw, seethe, shake, shake up, shamble, shatter, shift, shilly-shally, shock, shot, shuffle, sidle, single-foot, skin effect, skin friction, skip, slap, slink, slip, slither, slog, slouch, slowness, space out, spasticity, spook, sporadicity, sporadicness, spottiness, sprawl, spread-eagle, stab, stalk, stammer, stamp, startle, step, stir, stiver, stomp, straddle, straggle, stride, strike dead, strike dumb, strike with wonder, stroll, strolling gait, struggle, strut, stumble, stump, stun, stupefy, surprise, swagger, sway, swing, take a fall, take a flop, take a header, take a pratfall, take a spill, take aback, tax, teeter, teeter-totter, thrash about, tilt, tittup, toddle, topple, topple down, topple over, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, traipse, tread, trip, trot, trouble, trudge, try, tumble, turn, turn turtle, uncertainty, unevenness, unman, unmethodicalness, unnerve, unpredictability, unsettle, unsteadiness, unstring, unsystematicness, upset, vacillate, variability, vary, velocity, volutation, waddle, walk, wallop, wallow, wamble, waver, wax and wane, weave, welter, whack, wheel, whiffle, whimsicality, whirl, wiggle, wobble, zag, zig, zigzag