stumbles on

Verb

stumble on (third-person singular simple present stumbles on, present participle stumbling on, simple past and past participle stumbled on)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stumble, on.
2. (figuratively, intransitive) To discover or find something by accident.

   Synonyms:

   chance upon, come across, come upon, happen across, happen upon, stumble across, stumble upon

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 1852.2009, Robert E. Sullivan, Macaulay: The Tragedy of Power, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 411