SHAMBLE

shamble, shambling, shuffle, shuffling

(noun) walking with a slow dragging motion without lifting your feet; “from his shambling I assumed he was very old”

shuffle, scuffle, shamble

(verb) walk by dragging one’s feet; “he shuffled out of the room”; “We heard his feet shuffling down the hall”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

shamble (third-person singular simple present shambles, present participle shambling, simple past and past participle shambled)

To walk while shuffling or dragging the feet.

Synonyms

• shuffle

Noun

shamble (plural shambles)

(mining) One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level.

Anagrams

• hambles

Source: Wiktionary

Sham"ble, n. Etym: [OE. schamel a bench, stool, AS. scamel, sceamol, a bench, form, stool, fr. L. scamellum, dim. of scamnum a bench, stool.]

1. (Mining)

Definition: One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level.

2. pl.

Definition: A place where butcher's meat is sold. As summer flies are in the shambles. Shak.

3. pl.

Definition: A place for slaughtering animals for meat. To make a shambles of the parliament house. Shak.

Sham"ble, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Shambled; p. pr. & vb. n. Shambling.] Etym: [Cf. OD. schampelen to slip, schampen to slip away, escape. Cf. Scamble, Scamper.]

Definition: To walk awkwardly and unsteadily, as if the knees were weak; to shuffle along.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition