shamble

1
[ sham-buhl ]
See synonyms for: shambleshamblesshambling on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. shambles, (used with a singular or plural verb)

    • a slaughterhouse.

    • any place of carnage.

    • any scene of destruction: to turn cities into shambles.

    • any scene, place, or thing in disorder: Her desk is a shambles.

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

Origin of shamble

1
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

Words Nearby shamble

Other definitions for shamble (2 of 2)

shamble2
[ sham-buhl ]

verb (used without object),sham·bled, sham·bling.
  1. to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.

noun
  1. a shambling gait.

Origin of shamble

2
1675–85; perhaps short for shamble-legs one that walks wide (i.e., as if straddling), reminiscent of the legs of a shamble1 (in earlier sense “butcher's table”)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shamble in a sentence

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

    Hurricane Hurry | W.H.G. Kingston
  • The men were past revolt now, they could only shamble dizzily about.

    Beggars on Horseback | F. Tennyson Jesse
  • 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.

    The Air Pirate | Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
  • It is called shamble Oak because a butcher once used its hollow trunk to conceal stolen sheep.

    Zigzag Journeys in Europe | Hezekiah Butterworth

British Dictionary definitions for shamble

shamble

/ (ˈʃæmbəl) /


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

noun
  1. an awkward or unsteady walk

Origin of shamble

1
C17: from shamble (adj) ungainly, perhaps from the phrase shamble legs legs resembling those of a meat vendor's table; see shambles

Derived forms of shamble

  • shambling, adjective, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012