tumbler

US/ˈtʌmblɚ/

nounB2+2 meanings Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,642 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: tumblers

A tumbler is a plain drinking glass with no handle and no stem. A whisky tumbler, two tumblers, a heavy tumbler.

The name is odd and the reason is good: the earliest ones had rounded or pointed bottoms so they could not be set down, which meant you had to finish the drink. A tumbler is also an acrobat and a part of a lock, which the key turns. Note tumble, from which all three come.

Definitions of tumbler

1nountumblerA plain drinking glass with no handle or stem.B2+
“He poured some whisky into a heavy glass tumbler.”
- Said"Just a tumbler of water for me, please, no ice."
- WrittenThe tumblers were thick and cheap and never broke, which was the whole point of them.
- UsedServe whisky in a tumbler, wine in a stemmed glass.
- ContrastA tumbler, not just a glass. Every tumbler is a glass, but a tumbler has straight sides and no stem or handle. glass →
- Not thisA champagne flute is not a tumbler. A tumbler stands on its own base.
- SimplyPut juice in the tumbler. Then drink.
Patterna tumbler of + drink · a glass tumbler · whisky tumbler
2nounmovingA moving part inside a lock.C1
“When the right key is turned, the tumblers inside the lock line up.”

tumbler is a glass, or a lock part.

Remember it

It is tumble + er: the first ones had round bottoms, so they tumbled over unless you finished your drink.

hooks ontotumble

Where it comes from

Middle English
tumblen — to fall over and over again, tumble
English
tumble
English, today
tumbler

From tumble + -er. tumble comes from Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”). From Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”), frequentative of Middle English tumben (“to fall, leap, dance”), from Old English tumbian, from Proto-West Germanic tūmōn, from Proto-Germanic tūmōną (“to turn, rotate”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tumelen (whence Dutch tuimelen), Middle Low German tumelen, tummelen, German taumeln, Danish tumle, Swedish tumla, tumbla (“to tumble”), Faroese tumla, tumbla (“to walk heavily and noisily, stagger”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of tumbler

1nountumblerA plain drinking glass with no handle or stem.B2+

“He poured some whisky into a heavy glass tumbler.”

Said"Just a tumbler of water for me, please, no ice."
WrittenThe tumblers were thick and cheap and never broke, which was the whole point of them.
UsedServe whisky in a tumbler, wine in a stemmed glass.
ContrastA tumbler, not just a glass. Every tumbler is a glass, but a tumbler has straight sides and no stem or handle. glass →
Not thisA champagne flute is not a tumbler. A tumbler stands on its own base.
SimplyPut juice in the tumbler. Then drink.

Patterna tumbler of + drink · a glass tumbler · whisky tumbler

2nounmovingA moving part inside a lock.C1

“When the right key is turned, the tumblers inside the lock line up.”

tumbler is a glass, or a lock part.