tumbler

Meanings

1. One who tumbles; one who plays tricks by various motions of the body.
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. A rotating device for smoothing and polishing rough objects, placed inside it, on relatively small parts.
4. 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.
5. A drinking glass that has no stem, foot, or handle — so called because such glasses originally had a pointed or convex base and could not be set down without spilling. This compelled the drinker to finish their measure.
6. A variety of the domestic pigeon remarkable for its habit of tumbling, or turning somersaults, during its flight.
7. A beverage cup, typically made of stainless steel, that is broad at the top and narrow at the bottom commonly used in India.
8. Something that causes something else to tumble.
9. A dog of a breed that tumbles when pursuing game, formerly used in hunting rabbits.
10. A kind of cart; a tumbril.
11. The pupa of a mosquito.
12. One of a set of levers from which the heddles hang in some looms.

Etymology

From tumble + -er.