tumbly

comparative more tumbly · superlative most tumbly

1. Moving by, or as if, tumbling.

   Chey is thought to function at the flagellar motor to elicit a tumbly behavior (Parkinson, 1977). Mutations in chey result in incessantly smooth-swimming behavior.

   1986, Ann Marie Maderis, Bacterial Chemotaxis: Che Genes and Their Products, page 9

2. Heaped up in a formless mass; tumbled together.

   I suppose it is unnecessary to stress the importance of color filters in photography. A sunset, a marine view or a tumbly mass of clouds will show the necessity of a set of color filters.

   1934, Nature Magazine, volumes 23-24, page 194