STAGGER

lurch, stumble, stagger

(noun) an unsteady uneven gait

stagger, distribute

(verb) to arrange in a systematic order; “stagger the chairs in the lecture hall”

stagger

(verb) astound or overwhelm, as with shock; “She was staggered with bills after she tried to rebuild her house following the earthquake”

stagger, reel, keel, lurch, swag, careen

(verb) walk as if unable to control one’s movements; “The drunken man staggered into the room”

stagger, flounder

(verb) walk with great difficulty; “He staggered along in the heavy snow”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology

Noun

stagger (plural staggers)

An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion

• 7 October 2012, Paolo Bandini in The Guardian, Denver Broncos 21 New England Patriots 31 - as it happened

(veterinary medicine) A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling

Bewilderment; perplexity.

The spacing out of various actions over time.

(motorsport) The difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners.

(aviation) The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another.

Verb

stagger (third-person singular simple present staggers, present participle staggering, simple past and past participle staggered)

Sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.

(intransitive) In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter.

(transitive) To cause to reel or totter.

(intransitive) To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.

Doubt, waver, be shocked.

(intransitive) To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.

(transitive) To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.

(transitive) Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly-spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).

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.

To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.

To schedule in intervals.

Anagrams

• gagster, gargets, taggers

Source: Wiktionary

---

Stag"ger, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Staggered; p. pr. & vb. n. Staggering.] Etym: [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.

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.

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.)

Definition: A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; appopletic or sleepy staggers.

3. pl.

Definition: Bewilderment; perplexity. [R.] Shak. Stomach staggers (Far.), distention of the stomach with food or gas, resulting in indigestion, frequently in death.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---