v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Staggered p. pr. & vb. n. Staggering. ] [ OE. stakeren, Icel. stakra to push, to stagger, fr. staka to punt, push, stagger; cf. OD. staggeren to stagger. Cf. Stake, n. ] 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Deep was the wound; he staggered with the blow. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail. “The enemy staggers.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To begin to doubt and waver in purpose; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ Abraham ] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Rom. iv. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To cause to reel or totter. [ 1913 Webster ]

That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire
That staggers thus my person. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much staggered. Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. (Far.) A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; apopletic or sleepy staggers. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Bewilderment; perplexity. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stomach staggers (Far.), distention of the stomach with food or gas, resulting in indigestion, frequently in death. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) An American shrub (Andromeda Mariana) having clusters of nodding white flowers. It grows in low, sandy places, and is said to poison lambs and calves. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a staggering manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A kind of ragwort (Senecio Jacobaea). [ 1913 Webster ]