shamble

¹

[sham-buhl]

noun

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

   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)

shambled, shambling 

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

Other Word Forms

• shambling adjective

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”)

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

Example Sentences

A coroner has concluded that some of the care Cerys was given at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, was a "shambles".

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Its military is in shambles, former high-ranking army officers and other experts say.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Moscow both overestimated the Wagner Group’s strength as a power in Africa, now in shambles, and underestimated its potential to threaten the Russian government, as it did with an aborted coup.

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The bullpen is in shambles, to the point where bringing almost any reliever in is a terrifying proposition.

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With the Dodgers’ bullpen in shambles, Sasaki has emerged as a dominant force in October—not as a starter, but as an unexpected closer for a squad that desperately needed one.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal