definitions

shamble

1
[ sham-buh l ]
/ ˈʃæm bəl /
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noun

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

RELATED WORDS

disorder, disturb, scuff, shift, confuse, disarray, disorganize, scuffle, intermix, disarrange, discompose, jumble, dislocate, disrupt, change

Nearby words

shamanic, shamanism, shamash, shamateur, shamba, shamble, shambles, shambolic, shame, shame on you, shamed

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

Definition for shamble (2 of 2)

shamble

2
[ sham-buh l ]
/ ˈʃæm bəl /

verb (used without object), sham·bled, sham·bling.

to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.

noun

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for shamble

British Dictionary definitions for shamble

shamble

/ (ˈʃæmbəl) /

verb

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

noun

an awkward or unsteady walk
Derived Formsshambling, adjective, noun

Word Origin for shamble

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

Word Origin and History for shamble

shamble

v.

"to walk with a shuffling gait, walk awkwardly and unsteadily," 1680s, from an adjective meaning "ungainly, awkward" (c.1600), from shamble (n.) "table, bench" (see shambles), perhaps on the notion of the splayed legs of bench, or the way a worker sits astride it. Cf. French bancal "bow-legged, wobbly" (of furniture), properly "bench-legged," from banc "bench." The noun meaning "a shambling gait" is from 1828. Related: Shambled; shambling.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper