shamble (v.)

"to walk with a shuffling gait, walk awkwardly and unsteadily," 1680s (implied in shambling), 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. Compare French bancal "bow-legged, wobbly" (of furniture), properly "bench-legged," from banc "bench." The noun meaning "a shambling gait" is from 1828. Related: Shambled.

also from 1680s

Entries linking to shamble

shambles (n.)

"meat or fish market," early 15c., from schamil "table, stall for vending" (c. 1300), from Old English scamol, scomul "stool, footstool" (also figurative); "bench or stall in a market on which goods are exposed for sale, table for vending." Compare Old Saxon skamel "stool," Middle Dutch schamel, Old High German scamel, German schemel, Danish skammel "footstool." All these represent an early Proto-Germanic borrowing from Latin scamillus "low stool, a little bench," which is ultimately a diminutive of scamnum "stool, bench," from a PIE root *skmbh- "to prop up, support."

In English, the sense evolved from "place where meat is sold" to "slaughterhouse" (1540s), then figuratively "place of butchery" (1590s), and, generally, "confusion, mess" (1901, usually in plural).

Trends of shamble

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

shuffle

1530s, "put together hastily," probably from Middle English shovelen "to move with dragging feet," itself probably a frequentative form of shoven (see shove (v.) and compare scuffle). Or perhaps from Low German schuffeln "to walk clumsily, deal dishonestly." In reference to playi

shuffle

drag

late 14c., draggen, "to draw a grapnel along the bottom of a river, lake, etc., in search of something;" late 15c., "to draw away by force, pull haul," from Old Norse draga, or a dialectal variant of Old English dragan "to draw," both from Proto-Germanic *draganan "to draw, pull,

walk

"travel on foot," c. 1200, a merger of two verbs, 1. Old English wealcan "to toss, roll, move round" (past tense weolc, past participle wealcen), and 2. wealcian "to roll up, curl," from Proto-Germanic *welk- (source also of Old Norse valka "to drag about," Danish valke "to full"

scuff

1768, "to walk (through or over something) without raising the feet," originally Scottish, a word "Of uncertain and possibly mixed origin" [OED], probably from a Scandinavian source related to Old Norse skufa, skyfa "to shove, push aside" (from Proto-Germanic *skubanan, from PIE

nervous

late 14c., "containing nerves; affecting the sinews" (the latter sense now obsolete); from Latin nervosus "sinewy, vigorous," from nervus "sinew, nerve" (see nerve (n.)). The meaning "of or belonging to the nerves" in the modern anatomical sense is from 1660s. From 1630s it was u

cognitive

1580s, "pertaining to cognition," with -ive + Latin cognit-, past participle stem of cognoscere "to get to know, recognize," from assimilated form of com "together" (see co-) + gnoscere "to know" (from PIE root *gno- "to know"). Taken over by psychologists and sociologists after

period

early 15c., periode, "a course or extent of time; a cycle of recurrence of a disease," from Old French periode (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin periodus "recurring portion, cycle," from Latin periodus "a complete sentence," also "cycle of the Greek games," from Greek perio

precarious

1640s, a legal word, "held through the favor of another," from Latin precarius "depending on favor, pertaining to entreaty, obtained by asking or praying," from prex (genitive precis) "entreaty, prayer" (from PIE root *prek- "to ask, entreat"). The notion of "dependent on the wil

society

1530s, "companionship, friendly association with others," from Old French societe "company" (12c., Modern French société), from Latin societatem (nominative societas) "fellowship, association, alliance, union, community," from socius "companion, ally," from PIE *sokw-yo-, suffixe

Share shamble

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/shamble

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/shamble">Etymology of shamble by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of shamble. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/shamble

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of shamble,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/shamble.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of shamble.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/shamble. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of shamble.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/shamble (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on August 04, 2022

Remove ads >

Dictionary entries near shamble

shallow

shalom

sham

shaman

shamanism

shamble

shambles

shambolic

shame

shamefaced

shamefast