Definition of "stagger"

An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.  quotations  examples

(veterinary medicine) A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling.  examples

Bewilderment; perplexity.  examples

The spacing out of various actions over time.  quotations  examples

(motor racing) The difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners.  examples

(aviation) The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another.  examples

To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.

1. (intransitive) 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Deep was the wound; he staggered with the blow.

     1697, Virgil, “Palamon and Arcite”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

   • The burnt and bleeding man staggered to his feet, dazed and unbelieving, and asked the startled townspeople who came running whether his fireman and guard were safe. He was kept away from the smouldering crater where his engine had been, and taken to hospital.

     2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43

2. (transitive) To cause to reel or totter.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire / That staggers thus my person.

     1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene v]

3. (intransitive) To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.  examples

Doubt, waver, be shocked.

1. (intransitive) To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Romans 4:20

2. (transitive) To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [W]hoſoever vvill be curious to read the future ſtory of this intricate VVarre (if it be poſsible to compile a ſtory of it) he vvill find himſelfe much ſtagger'd, and put to a kind of riddle; […]

     1644, James Howell, England’s Teares, for the Present Wars, […], London: […] Richard Heron, page 6

   • Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility.

     1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension

   • Unless it is intended to divert much of the Southern suburban traffic underground, the size of the structure needed to handle all the Southern Railway suburban, outer suburban, and main-line traffic in one station staggers the imagination.

     1943 September and October, “Post-War London Terminals”, in Railway Magazine, page 257

(transitive) Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).

1. 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.  examples

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

3. To schedule in intervals or at different times.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The evening peak (5.30-5.45) is more concentrated than the morning (9–9.15), but it had not been intensified in the 12 months to last November; this is attributed by London Transport partly to efforts to persuade firms to stagger their hours.

     1962 September, “Talking of Trains: More commuters by rail”, in Modern Railways, page 154

(UK) One who attends a stag night.  quotations  examples