TUMBLER
A cart; also a sharper employed to draw in pigeons to game; likewise a posture-master, or rope-dancer. To shove the tumbler, or perhaps tumbril; to-be whipt at the cart's tail.

The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Tum"bler (?), n.

1.

One who tumbles; one who plays tricks by various motions of the body; an acrobat.

2.

A movable obstruction in a lock, consisting of a lever, latch, wheel, slide, or the like, which must be adjusted to a particular position by a key or other means before the bolt can be thrown in locking or unlocking.

3. Firearms

A piece attached to, or forming part of, the hammer of a gunlock, upon which the mainspring acts and in which are the notches for sear point to enter.

4.

A drinking glass, without a foot or stem; -- so called because originally it had a pointed or convex base, and could not be set down with any liquor in it, thus compelling the drinker to finish his measure.

5. Zool.

A variety of the domestic pigeon remarkable for its habit of tumbling, or turning somersaults, during its flight.

6. Zool.

A breed of dogs that tumble when pursuing game. They were formerly used in hunting rabbits.

7.

A kind of cart; a tumbrel.

[Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

 

© Webster 1913.

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