From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfumblefum‧ble /ˈfʌmbəl/ verb 1 (also fumble around) [intransitive, transitive]HOLD to try to hold, move, or find something with your hands in an awkward wayfumble at/in/with She dressed, her cold fingers fumbling with the buttons.fumble for I fumbled around in my bag for a cigarette. She reached round to fumble the light on.2 [intransitive, transitive]TALK TO somebody if you fumble with your words when you are speaking, you have difficulty saying somethingfumble for Asked for an explanation, Mike had fumbled for words. The second candidate fumbled her lines.3 [intransitive, transitive]DS to drop a ball after catching it Quarterback Rattay was hit and fumbled the ball. —fumble noun [countable] —fumbling noun [countable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
fumble• He fumbled down a wall and pushed open a door.• Although she had sensed that a fiasco like this was inevitable, Amanda fumbled for an appropriate response.• Most churches fumbled their efforts to respond to it.• Even as her hand fumbled to open it, he thrust himself between her and the door, barring her way.fumble at/in/with• In the vestibule, I scanned the column of buzzers while she fumbled in her purse for her keys.• Then he was there, fumbling in his pockets for change.• Whilst Mrs Ledingham fumbled with the border, I confronted him with his folly.• He also fumbled in the end zone to give Seattle a touchdown.• The memory of the towers' electro-sticks back at Mars-U made her fingers fumble at the keys.• He fumbled with the lock which clicked and then he pushed up the lid.• Cursing, Cardiff fumbled at the mechanism but could find no locking-catch.• That is the 49ers' only fumble in two games.Origin fumble (1500-1600) Probably from a Scandinavian language 