Meanings
plural shambles
- businessOne 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.
present singular third person shambles · participle present shambling · participle past shambled · past shambled
- To walk while shuffling or dragging the feet.
I wasn't too impressed with the fellow, when he shambled in unenthusiastically and an hour late.
1 more example
The old black, not in any very high glee at having been previously roused from his warm hammock at a most unseasonable hour, came shambling along from his galley, for, like many old blacks, there was something the matter with his knee-pans, which he did not keep well scoured like his other pans; [...]
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 64, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 328
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nounwalking with a slow dragging motion without lifting your feet
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinscamellum
- Proto-Germanic*skamulaz
- Proto-West Germanic*skamul
- Old Englishsċeamol
- Middle Englishschambyll
- Englishshamble
From Middle English schambyll, shamyll, schamel, from Old English sċeamol, scamol (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil, from Proto-Germanic *skamulaz, *skamilaz, from Latin scamellum, a variant of scabellum (“footstool”). Cognate with West Frisian skammel (“shamble, trestle, stool", also (in the plural) "legs, especially when showing defects or deformities”), Dutch schemel (“footstool, bench”), German Schemel (“stool”), Danish skammel (“stool”). Icelandic skemill (“footstool”). Doublet of scabellum. The verb is probably derived from the adjective, itself from attributive use of the noun. Compare West Frisian skammelje (“to walk with a swaying gait, especially on deformed legs”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مَشَى يَجُرُّ قَدَمَيْهِ
- مَشَى يَجُرُّ قَدَمَيْهِ (mašā yajurru qadamayhi)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Bulgarian влача се, тътря си краката
- влача се (vlača se)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- тътря си краката (tătrja si krakata)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Czech courat se, šourat se
- courat seto walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- šourat seto walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Dutch sloffen
- sloffento walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Finnish laahustaa, raahustaa
- laahustaato walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- raahustaato walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
German schlurfen, schleichen
- schlurfento walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- schleichento walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- watschelnto walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Māori hōnekeneke, pīkari
- hōnekeneketo walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- pīkarito walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Russian ша́ркать
- ша́ркать (šárkatʹ)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Spanish arrastrar los pies
- arrastrar los piesto walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Ukrainian волочитися, тягтися
- волочитися (voločytysja)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- тягтися (tjahtysja)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
- незграбно йти (nezhrabno jty)to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shamble
All rhymes →Cite this entry
shamble. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shamble
“shamble.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shamble. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shamble,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shamble.
Source: shamble on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.