Nearby Words
noun
1.
shambles, (used with a singular or plural verb)
a.
a slaughterhouse.
b.
any place of carnage.
c.
any scene of destruction: to turn cities into shambles.
d.
any scene, place, or thing in disorder: Her desk is a shambles.
2.
British Dialect. a butcher's shop or stall.
Origin:
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
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
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Shambles
is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Example Sentences
- The logistical details of dispersal have also been a bit of a shambles.
- Go while people remember your achievements, not when they blame you for the shambles you leave behind.
- Once the subsidies ended this year, the economy is in shambles and people have started protesting.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used without object)
1.
to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.
noun
2.
a shambling gait.
Origin:
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”)
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 Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To shambles
Collins
World English Dictionary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
shambles
late 15c., "meat or fish market," from schamil "table, stall for vending" (c.1300), from O.E. scomul, sceamel "stool, footstool, table for vending," an early W.Gmc. borrowing (cf. O.S. skamel, M.Du. schamel, O.H.G. scamel, Ger. schemel) from L. scamillus "low stool," ultimately a dim. of scamnum "stool,
EXPANDbench," from PIE base *skabh- "to prop up, support." In English, sense evolved to "slaughterhouse" (1540s), "place of butchery" (1590s), and "confusion, mess" (1901).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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