Fumble

[fuhm-buh l] /ˈfʌm bəl/

verb (used without object), fumbled, fumbling.
1.
to feel or grope about clumsily:
She fumbled in her purse for the keys.
2.
Sports. to fumble the ball.
verb (used with object), fumbled, fumbling.
3.
to make, handle, etc., clumsily or inefficiently:
to fumble an attempt; He fumbled his way through the crowded room.
4.
Sports. to fail to hold or maintain hold on (a ball) after having touched it or carried it.
noun
5.
the act of fumbling:
We completed the difficult experiment without a fumble.
6.
Sports. an act or instance of fumbling the ball.
/ˈfʌmbəl/
verb
1.
(intransitive; often foll by for or with) to grope about clumsily or blindly, esp in searching: he was fumbling in the dark for the money he had dropped
2.
(intransitive; foll by at or with) to finger or play with, esp in an absent-minded way
3.
to say or do hesitantly or awkwardly: he fumbled the introduction badly
4.
to fail to catch or grasp (a ball, etc) cleanly
noun
5.
the act of fumbling
v.

mid-15c., “handle clumsily,” possibly from Old Norse falma “to fumble, grope.” Similar words in Scandinavian and North Sea Germanic suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (cf. bumble, stumble, and obsolete English famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning). Related: Fumbled; fumbling.
n.

1640s, from fumble (v.).