Other forms: wobbling, wobbles, wobbled
To wobble is to rock unsteadily from side to side. The table wobbles, wobble on the bike, a wobbly tooth.
It means unsteady rather than actually falling, and a wobble is usually recoverable — which is why the word is used of nerves and of markets as well as of furniture. Wobbly as an adjective is common; throw a wobbly is British slang for losing your temper. Note that the word came from Low German and is imitative in feel.
1verbwobbleTo rock unsteadily from side to side.
“The ladder wobbled as he climbed to the top.”
2nounmomentA moment of unsteadiness.
“After a slight wobble in the second half, the team held on to win.”
wobble is an unsteady rocking.
Wobble comes from earlier wabble, probably from Low German wabbeln. Dutch wiebelen and German wabbeln do the same job in the same way.
Low German
wabbeln — to wobble
English, today
wobble
Built from
From earlier wabble (“wobble”), probably from Low German wabbeln (“to wobble”). Compare Dutch wiebelen and wobbelen (“to wobble”), German wabbeln (“to wobble”), Old Norse vafla (“to hover about, totter”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA