stumble on

verb stumbles on · stumbling on · stumbled on

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stumble, on.
2. figuratively, intransitive To discover or find something by accident.
3. figuratively, intransitive To meet somebody by chance.
4. figuratively, intransitive, with on To continue with difficulty in one's endeavours; to struggle on. After 1849 Lord John Russell's government—virtually a Whig cousinhood—lurched but managed to stumble on until 1852.