Definitions for stagger
ˈstæg ərstag·ger

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. lurch, stumble, staggerverb

   an unsteady uneven gait

2. stagger, reel, keel, lurch, swag, careenverb

   walk as if unable to control one's movements

   "The drunken man staggered into the room"

3. stagger, flounderverb

   walk with great difficulty

   "He staggered along in the heavy snow"

4. stagger, distributeverb

   to arrange in a systematic order

   "stagger the chairs in the lecture hall"

5. staggerverb

   astound or overwhelm, as with shock

   "She was staggered with bills after she tried to rebuild her house following the earthquake"

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 2 votes

1. staggernoun

   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. staggernoun

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

3. staggernoun

   bewilderment; perplexity.

4. staggerverb

   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.

   She began to stagger across the room.

5. staggerverb

   To cause to reel or totter.

   The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.

6. staggerverb

   To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.

   After the second earthquake, the clock tower began to stagger.

7. staggerverb

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

   Under severe criticism, the leader began to stagger.

8. staggerverb

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

   He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.

9. staggerverb

   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.

10. staggerverb

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

    We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.

11. staggerverb

    To schedule in intervals.

    We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To Staggerverb

   1. To make to stagger; to make to reel.

   That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire,
   That staggers thus my person. William Shakespeare, Richard II.

   2. To shock; to alarm; to make less steady or confident.

   The question did at first so stagger me,
   Bearing a state of mighty moment in’t. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

   When a prince fails in honour and justice, ’tis enough to stagger his people in their allegiance. Roger L'Estrange.

   Whosoever will read the story of this war, will find himself much staggered, and put to a kind of riddle. James Howell.

   The shells being lodged with the belemnites, selenites, and other like natural fossils, it was enough to stagger a spectator, and make him ready to entertain a belief that these were so too. John Woodward.

2. To STAGGERverb

   Etymology: staggeren, Dutch.

   1. To reel; not to stand or walk steadily.

   He began to appear sick and giddy, and to stagger; after which he fell down as dead. Boyle.

   He struck with all his might
   Full on the helmet of th’ unwary knight:
   Deep was the wound; he stagger’d with the blow. Dryden.

   Them revelling the Tentyrites invade,
   By giddy heads and staggering legs betray’d:
   Strange odds! where cropsick drunkards must engage
   An hungry foe. Nahum Tate, Juvenal.

   The immediate forerunners of an apoplexy are a vertigo, staggering, and loss of memory. Arbuthnot.

   2. To faint; to begin to give way.

   The enemy staggers: if you follow your blow, he falls at your feet; but if you allow him respite, he will recover his strength. Addison.

   3. To hesitate; to fall into doubt; to become less confident or determined.

   A man may, if he were fearful, stagger in this attempt. William Shakespeare.

   He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith. Rom iv. 20.

   Three means to fortify belief are experience, reason, and authority: of these the most potent is authority; for belief upon reason, or experience, will stagger. Francis Bacon.

   No hereticks desire to spread
   Their light opinions, like these Epicures;
   For so their stagg’ring thoughts are comforted,
   And other mens assent their doubt assures. Davies.

   If thou confidently depend on the truth of this, without any doubting or staggering, this will be accepted by God. Henry Hammond.

   But let it inward sink and drown my mind:
   Falshood shall want its triumph: I begin
   To stagger; but I’ll prop myself within. Dryden.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. stagger

   To stagger is to walk or move unsteadily, as if about to fall or collapse, often due to shock, injury, or intoxication. It can also mean to organize or arrange something in a zigzag order or at different times. Furthermore, it can refer to the process of greatly shocking, surprising or astonishing someone.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Staggernoun

   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

2. Staggernoun

   to cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail

3. Staggernoun

   to begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate

4. Staggerverb

   to cause to reel or totter

5. Staggerverb

   to cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock

6. Staggerverb

   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

7. Staggernoun

   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

8. Staggernoun

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

9. Staggernoun

   bewilderment; perplexity

10. Etymology: [OE. stakeren, Icel. stakra to push, to stagger, fr. staka to punt, push, stagger; cf. OD. staggeren to stagger. Cf. Stake, n.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Stagger

   In aviation, stagger is the horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another. An aircraft is said to have positive stagger, or simply stagger, when the upper wing is positioned forward of the lower wing, such as the de Havilland Tiger Moth or Stearman. Conversely, an aeroplane is said to have negative stagger in unusual cases where the upper wing is positioned behind the lower wing, as in the Sopwith Dolphin or Beech Model 17 Staggerwing. An aircraft with the wings positioned directly above each other is said to have unstaggered wings, as in the Sopwith Cuckoo or Vickers Vildebeest.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Stagger

   stag′ėr, v.i. to reel from side to side: to begin to give way: to begin to doubt: to hesitate.—v.t. to cause to reel: to cause to doubt or hesitate: to shock.—adv. Stagg′eringly.—n. Stagg′ers, a popular term applied to several diseases of horses.—Grass, or Stomach, staggers, an acute indigestion; Mad, or Sleepy, staggers, an inflammation of the brain. [Ice. stakra, to push, freq. of staka, to push.]

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. STAGGER

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Stagger is ranked #156044 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Stagger surname appeared 104 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Stagger.
   
   72.1% or 75 total occurrences were Black.
   19.2% or 20 total occurrences were White.
   6.7% or 7 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

1. • Arrange
   • Overwhelm

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Anagrams for stagger »

1. gagster

2. gargets

3. taggers

How to pronounce stagger?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say stagger in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of stagger in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of stagger in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of stagger in a Sentence

1. Diane Swint:

   Companies can stagger lunch times in a socially distant way. You can set up two or three lunch hours.

2. Nick Clegg:

   If they try to stagger through with a messy and unstable minority government instead of putting the country first then they will risk all the hard work and sacrifices people have made over the last five years, the last thing Britain needs is a second election before Christmas. But that is exactly what will happen if (Labour leader) Ed Miliband and David Cameron put their own political interest ahead of the national interest.

3. Saju Mathew:

   How are they going to make sure that people work out where they're six feet apart from each other at all times? Are they going to only let people stagger in? I just have a lot of health and safety concerns. And then locker rooms could be even a bigger issue.

4. Vern Roberts:

   I tried to get away, i tried to ‘stop, drop and roll,’ did all kinds of ‘protect me things,’ but it kept overwhelming and basically knocking me down. I would stagger and fall and flop around, all sorts of things.

5. Deidre Herbst:

   If you told us today that you have to roll out FGD on a plant, it would take us at least 10 years to get to the point where we would be retrofitting the first unit, being able to execute all of those power stations at the same time would be a significant challenge. You would have to stagger the different power stations and it would probably take at least a 20-year period to finish all of them.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=stagger
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Stagger
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=stagger
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stagger
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=stagger
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=stagger
8. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
9. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stagger