reel

reel vb Reel, whirl, stagger, totter are comparable when they mean to move or seem to move uncertainly or un-controllably (as in weakness, in giddiness, or in intoxication).

Reel usually implies a turning round and round, or a sensation of so turning or being turned

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for, while the dagger gleamed on high, reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye— Scott

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in these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled— Hawthorne

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But it may also imply a being thrown off balance (as an army that recoils before a mighty attack, a ship that has lost its equilibrium, or a person affected by exhaustion, a wound, faintness, or intoxication)

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giddy and restless, let them reel like stubble from the wind— Milton

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when Church and State were reeling to their foundations— Stanley

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he . . . placed his open palm gently against the breast of Lucian, who instantly reeled back as if the piston rod of a steam engine had touched him— Shaw

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Whirl (see also TURN) is often used like reel, especially when referred to the head or to the brain

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the dim brain whirls dizzy with delight— Shelley

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but it more frequently implies swiftness or impetuousness of movement often by someone or something being carried along blindly or furiously

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in popular commotions, each man is whirled along with the herd— Lytton

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Stagger stresses uncertainty or uncontrollability of movement, typically of a person walking while weak, giddy, intoxicated, or heavily burdened, but sometimes of whatever meets with difficulty or with adverse conditions; thus, a boat that labors, a mind that is perplexed, confused, or bewildered, and a faith, opinion, or purpose that meets heavy opposition can all be said to stagger

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a porter half my size who... staggered through the shallow water under what must have been an almost overwhelming weight— Heiser

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at whose immensity even soaring fancy staggers— Shelley

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Totter (see also SHAKE) implies not only weakness or unsteadiness as a cause of uncertain movement but often also suggests an approaching complete collapse

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from the day of Cressy feudalism tottered slowly but surely to its grave— J. R. Green

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[the waning moon] like a dying lady, lean and pale, who totters forth, wrapt in a gauzy veil— Shelley

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Analogous words: *turn, spin, revolve, rotate: sway, waver, *swing: wobble, teeter, quiver (see SHAKE)