noun
Meaning 1
The male hemp plant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
fimble
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˈfɪmbl̩/
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rhymes with -ɪmbəl
verb
Meaning 2
To fumble; do (anything) imperfectly or irresolutely.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dialectal, intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle Dutch femele, fimele (“cannabis brevior”), from fimelen (“to tease: flax, hemp, wool, etc.; to move quickly, fiddle, play, trifle”) (whence Dutch fijmelen, femelen), related to Middle Low German fimmelen, fimmeren (“to grope about”), German fimmeln (“to grope; fumble”), West Frisian fimelje (“to pick; fiddle' trifle”), English fimble (“to fumble”). Alternatively, it is sometimes suggested that Middle Dutch femele is from French chanvre) femelle (“female (hemp)”), which was applied to the male hemp plant as it is smaller and was therefore believed to be female; this would parallel the old designation of the larger, female plant as carl-hemp (“man-hemp”).
From a dialectal variant of fumble.