shamble

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To walk slowly and awkwardly, dragging or shuffling your feet.

   He shambled into the office an hour late, looking half asleep.

2. 2
   noun

   A slow, dragging, unsteady way of walking.

   The old dog crossed the yard with a tired shamble.

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 Dutch schemel (“footstool, bench”), German Schemel (“stool”), Danish skammel (“stool”). Icelandic skemill (“footstool”).

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