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View synonyms for shamble

shamble

1

[ sham-buhl ]

noun

  1. shambles, (used with a singular or plural verb)
    1. a slaughterhouse.
    2. any place of carnage.
    3. any scene of destruction:

      to turn cities into shambles.

    4. any scene, place, or thing in disorder:

      Her desk is a shambles.

  2. British Dialect. a butcher's shop or stall.


shamble

2

[ sham-buhl ]

verb (used without object)

, sham·bled, sham·bling.
  1. to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.

noun

  1. a shambling gait.

shamble

/ ˈʃæmbəl /

verb

  1. intr to walk or move along in an awkward or unsteady way


noun

  1. an awkward or unsteady walk

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Derived Forms

  • ˈshambling, adjectivenoun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of shamble1

before 900; Middle English shamel, Old English sc ( e ) amel stool, table < Late Latin scamellum, Latin scamillum, diminutive of Latin scamnum bench; compare German Schemel

Origin of shamble2

1675–85; perhaps short for shamble-legs one that walks wide (i.e., as if straddling), reminiscent of the legs of a shamble 1 (in earlier sense “butcher's table”)

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Word History and Origins

Origin of shamble1

C17: from shamble (adj) ungainly, perhaps from the phrase shamble legs legs resembling those of a meat vendor's table; see shambles

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Example Sentences

The deck of the Frenchman was truly a shamble; not a spot appeared free from some dead or wounded occupant.

The men were past revolt now, they could only shamble dizzily about.

They could not walk, they could only shamble; they could not laugh, they could only leer.

His knees still knocked together in a loathsome paralysis, but he made effort to shamble forward.

It is called Shamble Oak because a butcher once used its hollow trunk to conceal stolen sheep.

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