| 释义 |
▪ I. shuffle, n.|ˈʃʌf(ə)l|
[f. shuffle v.]
†1. A shifting from one place to another; an interchange of positions. Obs.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 100 The very life and soul of motion is shuffle or sawing. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 27 The unguided agitation and rude shuffles of Matter.
2. A tricky exchange or alternation (of arguments, expedients, etc.).
1641Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 185 With a slye shuffle of counterfeit principles chopping and changing till he haue glean'd all the good ones of their minds. 1860Smiles Self Help viii. 215 Life becomes a mere shuffle of expedients.
3. An evasive trick, evasion, subterfuge.
1628Feltham Resolves ii. ii. 4 All the vnwelcome Shuffles that the poore rude World puts on him. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. iii. iv. §5 A man that is unwilling to admit of anything supernatural would please himself with this general shuffle and put-off. 1690C. Nesse Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test. I. 46 Adam's first reason or shuffle was that he heard Gods voice. 1737Waterland Eucharist 85 Socinus's pretended Reasons..were mere shuffle and pretence. 1842G. S. Faber Prov. Lett. (1844) II. 316 So as to leave no room for shuffle or evasion. 1861S. Brooks Silver Cord xli. (1865) 225 That seems a shuffle. You can say where the documents are, if you please to do so. 1893M. Pemberton Iron Pirate 201 You'll answer it now, yes or no, plain word and no shuffle.
4. Movement of the feet along the ground without lifting them; a gait characterized by such movement.
1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. I. iv. 62 The bear..dancing him from side to side in its heavy shuffle. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 533 His gait distinguished from that of other men by a peculiar shuffle. 1862Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 436 In delivering the ball he neither ran nor walked up to the crease, but advanced with a sort of ‘shuffle’. 1886G. R. Sims Ring o' Bells, etc. 10 The shuffle of little tired feet along the passage.
5. A dance of a simple kind, in which the feet are shuffled along the floor. Also spec., a modern popular dance to jazz or rock and roll music, evolved orig. from Negro folk-dance; the music to which this is danced. double shuffle: one in which two movements of the same kind are made by each foot alternately.
1659H. More Immort. Soul ii. xviii. 321 The rude shuffles and dancings of the Cretick Corybantes. 1821P. Egan Life in London ii. v. 287 The kidwys and kiddiesses were footing the double shuffle against each other. 1837Marryat Snarleyyow x, He would warm himself with the double-shuffle. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii, They all turned-to and had a regular sailor's shuffle till eight bells. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes vi, Single shuffle, double shuffle, cut and cross-cut. 1894E. Scott Dancing 84 The hornpipe step, familiarly known as the double-shuffle. 1925(jazz music title) Shanghai Shuffle. 1935K. Burchill Step Dancing iv. 14 Swing the leg forward from the knee, so that the ball of your foot strikes the ground as it comes through... From this position swing the lower part of the leg back to its original position, striking the ground at the same time with the ball of the foot... These two movements..done in this order, constitute what is known as the ‘Shuffle’. 1955Keepnews & Grauer Pictorial Hist. Jazz. ix 97 Such slightly later recordings as Riverboat Shuffle. 1956M. Stearns Story of Jazz xvii. 203 The arrangements now sound heavy and cluttered and the rhythm was almost of the ‘shuffle’ variety. 1976J. van de Wetering Corpse on Dike (1977) xvi. 159 The combo..played a slow shuffle, very easy to get into.
6. a. The act of shuffling playing-cards; also ellipt. (a player's) turn to shuffle.
1651Hobbes Leviath. i. xi. 48 Nor any such hope to mend an ill game, as by causing a new shuffle. 1728Swift Jrnl. Mod. Lady Wks. 1755 III. ii. 195 The deal, the shuffle, and the cut. 1894F. M. Elliot Roman Gossip v. 162 The next shuffle of the cards finds him leading a hermit's life. 1894Maskelyne Sharps & Flats 140 To allow a certain number of cards to remain undisturbed is a comparatively simple matter in any shuffle.
b. phr. lost in the shuffle: overlooked or missed in the mêlée or multitude. U.S.
1930D. Runyon in Collier's 22 Mar. 21/4, I find we are about lost in the shuffle of guys with little mustaches. 1955New Yorker 11 June 74/3 Mr. Ewell's efforts to be quietly funny are lost in the shuffle. 1981W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 8 Feb. 12/2 The book itself would then get lost in the shuffle.
c. transf. A redistribution of ministerial posts within a government or cabinet. Cf. reshuffle n.
1941C. Mackenzie Red Tapeworm xxii. 296, I hope we shall have no more of these Cabinet shuffles for the time being! 1966― Paper Lives xiv. 184 Mr Williamson, who was hoping like Mr Upjohn to find himself in the Cabinet at the next shuffle, ceased to argue. 1976J. I. M. Stewart Memorial Service xiii. 204 The government was judged likely soon to undergo one of those ‘shuffles’ that English political mythology declares to be periodically essential.
▪ II. shuffle, v.|ˈʃʌf(ə)l|
Forms: 6 shoofle, shooffell, shuffil, -ell, shoffle, 6–7 shuffel, 6–8 shufle, 7 shoffel, 6– shuffle.
[Early modern Eng.; 16th c. shoofle, shoffle, shufle, etc., ad. or cogn. w. LG. schüffeln, also schuffeln to walk clumsily or with dragging feet, mix (corn), shuffle (cards), deal dishonestly, play unfairly; frequent. f. Teut. root *skuf- (skuƀ-) to shove. (Cf. scuffle and shovel v.2)]
1. a. intr. To move the feet along the ground without lifting them, so as to make a scraping noise; to walk with such a motion of the feet; to go with clumsy steps or a shambling gait; also said of the feet. Often with advs. Also (colloq.) fig. with off to die; (in playful allusion to Hamlet: see sense 5 d, quot. 1602).
1598Marston Sco. Villanie B 4 b, Both of them goe a good seemely pace, not stumbling, shuffling. 1627Drayton Agincourt 59 Another, his [arms] had shackled by the feete; Who like a Cripple shuffled on the ground. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 300 The Bear..shuffling along at a strange Rate. 1778F. Burney Evelina xviii. (1791) II. 104 He came shuffling into the room with his boots on. 1810Crabbe Borough xiii, An old brown pony..Who shuffled onward, and from side to side. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. x, In making his bow, one foot shuffled forward..the other backward. 1827― Jrnl. 5 Jan., I can now shuffle about and help myself to what I want. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. Introd., Shuffling backwards out of doors in the presence of the sovereign. 1902R. Bagot Donna Diana v. 43 The electric bell..rang... The servants shuffled to their feet and went to answer it.
transf.1576R. Peterson Galateo (1892) 80 If a man or woman should..shuffle backwarde vpon their taile. 1845Gosse Ocean ii. (1849) 81 [Plaice] reside wholly upon the bottom [of the sea], shuffling along by waving their flattened bodies, fringed with dorsal and anal fins. 1874Wood Nat. Hist. 7 The creature shuffles along..by help of its arms.
fig.1922A. Huxley Mortal Coils 124 One has to bring them [sc. obituary notices] up to date every year or so for fear of being caught napping if one of these old birds chooses to shuffle off suddenly. 1977N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Aug. 29/3 She thought—if one had to ‘shuffle off’—it would be terrific to be electrocuted while playing a bass guitar in a rock group.
b. To move restlessly or fidget in one's seat.
1881Durham Univ. Jrnl. 17 Dec. 133 They shuffle on their seats and become impatient. 1895‘Merriman’ Grey Lady ii. ii, Captain Bontnor shuffled in his seat and likewise in his speech.
c. trans. To move (the feet) along the ground or floor without raising them.
1576R. Peterson Galateo (1892) 17 Some men vse to..playe the dromme with their fingers, or shoofle their feete. 1819Keats Lamia i. 356 Men, women, rich and poor..Shuffled their sandals o'er the pavement white. 1833H. Martineau Briery Creek v. 114 Two or three boys and girls shuffled their feet on the matting.
d. To perform (a dance or a dance-step) with a shuffle. Also absol. or intr.
1818Scott Br. Lamm. xiii, Bruin..rose up upon his hind⁓legs, and instantly began to shuffle a saraband. 1833[Seba Smith] Lett. J. Downing iii. (1835) 38 ‘Change partners, and shuffle the next’; and so they chang'd, and shuffled and changed. 1872‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1876) 5 Girls..who shuffled and beat A strange time with their feet.
2. a. To manipulate (the cards in a pack) so as to change their relative position, with the object of preventing the players from knowing the order in which the cards lie. Formerly freq. in allusive use, to shuffle the cards = to manipulate matters.
1570Levins Manip. 184/17 To shuffle cardes, confundere. 1577F. de Lisle's Legendarie G viij b, Al was but a new practise whereby to shuffle the cardes as we say, and so to heape one discord vpon another. 1591Florio 2nd Fruites 69 Goe to, shooffell the cardes verie well. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden M 3 They fell to dansing..; in a trice so they shuffled the cards of purpose..that..he must tread the measures about with the foulest..fury that might be. 1638Burton Anat. Mel. (ed. 5) iii. iii. i. ii, They turned up trumpe, before the Cards were shufled. 1643Plain English 17 [They] had shuffled their cards so cunningly as to be out of the reach of law. 1709Steele Tatler No. 50 ⁋11 He is now shuffling the Cards, and dealing to Timothy. 1717Prior Alma ii. 235 We sure in vain the cards condemn: Ourselves both cut and shuffled them. 1784Cowper Task i. 474 To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort, Her mingled suits and sequences. 1829Lytton Devereux i. iv, Let us see if, at sixteen, we cannot shuffle cards, and play tricks with the gamester of thirty. 1894Maskelyne Sharps & Flats 139 The cards are.. in their original positions, although they appear to have been perfectly shuffled.
b. absol. or intr., freq. allusively, esp. in phr. shuffle and cut.
1589? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet C iiij (1844) 27 Weele make you deale, shuffle as well as you can we meane to cut it. 1592Marlowe Mass. Paris i. ii, Since thou hast all the Cardes within thy hands To shuffle or cut, take this as surest thing: That..thou deale thy selfe a King. 1602Heywood Woman killed w. Kindn. iii. ii, Shuffle, Ile cut; would I had neuer dealt. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 58 The Dealer shuffles, and the other cuts. 1694Congreve Double Dealer ii. i, Since we have shuffled and cut, let's e'en turn up trump now. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 93 He..shuffles and cuts with every one who has to do with him. 1748Walpole Let. to Mann 26 Dec., A little astonished at seeing the Count shuffle with the faces of the cards upwards. 1810Crabbe Borough x, They draw, they sit, they shuffle, cut and deal. 1862‘Cavendish’ Whist (1879) 6 The dealer has always the right to shuffle last. 1864Knight Passages Work, Life I. iii. 167 The princes..at the faro-table of Vienna shuffled and cut for the destinies of the world.
Proverb.1620Shelton Quix. III. xxiii. 160 O Cousin, I say, Patience and Shuffle. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 141 And cut the fiercest quarrels short With—‘Patience, gentlemen—and shuffle!’
c. trans. To produce or put in (a card or a certain succession of cards) in shuffling. Chiefly fig.
1583B. Melbancke Philotimus F ij b, The fault..was..in her mother, which in shuffling the cards shufled in a knaue too many. 1594? Greene Selimus Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 251 Vnlesse I shuffle out my selfe a king. 1648Hunting of Fox 40 Your creatures were shuffled among all the knaves in the packe. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 425 Shuffling and cutting ones selfe a Fortune in this scambling World. Mod. I will try and shuffle myself a good hand this time.
3. To push along, about, or together in a disorderly mass or heap, or in a manner suggesting the shuffling of feet.
1567Harman Caveat xxiv, He shuffels vp a quayntitye of strawe..into some pretye carner of the barne where she maye conuenientlye lye. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1065/1 They.. strewed againe the rushes that were shuffled with strugling. 1616Rich Cabinet A a 2 To beginne another discourse when a man is telling a story..is as if you should shuffle stones against him which goeth [= walks]. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723) 279 The Sea, by this Access and Recess, shuffling the empty Shells. 1725P. Blair Pharmaco-Bot. iii. 133 They Wash Cloaths, shufling, shifting of it. 1875Southward Dict. Typogr. 63 He then lets the further side rest upon the table, and shuffles the sheets gradually away from him.
4. a. To put or throw together in one mass indiscriminately, incongruously, or without order; to huddle or jumble together.
1570Levins Manip. 127/45 To Shuffil, confundere. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 32t The enemies rankes were broken, and for feare so shufled together, that [etc.]. 1629H. Burton Babel no Bethel 1 Comparing my arguments to scroles shufled together in a lottery pott. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 268 They..eat upon the ground, sometimes shuffling flesh, and fish, and fruits together all into the same dish. 1685South Serm. Prov. xvi. 33 (1727) I. 297 When Lots are shuffled in a Lap, Urn, or Pitcher. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xx. 260 Your shoes shuffled by a rascally servant into the general heap. 1883H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 66 The..granite blocks are..mingled together and piled on one another..as if shuffled by some giant. 1899J. G. Frazer Orig. Totemism ii, The various clans..do not live isolated from each other, but are shuffled up together within a narrow area.
b. With immaterial obj.
1634Heywood Lanc. Witches iii. Wks. 1874 IV. 211 Was there ever such a medley of mirth, madnesse, and drunkennesse, shuffled together? 1647Cowley Mistr., Distance iv, Hearts by Love, strangely shuffled are, That there can never meet a Pare! 1699Bentley Phal. 272 Eusebius's Histories are so shuffled and interpolated, and so disjointed from his Tables. a1732Atterbury (J.), He has shuffled the two ends of the sentence together. 1823Lamb Elia ii. Rejoicings New Year, Good Days, bad Days so shuffled together. 1830Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1860) II. 20 Let us now shuffle the censuses of England and France together.
c. To mingle or join indiscriminately with or among others.
1593Kyd Let. Sir J. Puckering Wks. (1901) p. cviii, Some fragments of a disputation..affirmd by Marlowe to be his, and shufled wth some of myne. 1648Winyard Mids.-Moon 2 Shuffle him with the rest oth' visitors. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. (1669) 282 With so little observance or order, that..the servants were shuffled in among their Masters. 1713Guardian No. 108. 104, I..should not have minded them had they been still shuffled among the crowd. 1742Young Nt. Th. vii. 708 The pang of seeing worth..soon shuffled in the dark With ev'ry vice.
5. a. To bring in in a deceitful, tricky, or surreptitious manner; to smuggle (a thing) in or into (something else); to thrust in somehow or other.
1565Jewel Replie Harding (1611) 201 Quite altering the words that hee found, and shuffling in, and interlacing other words of his owne. 1593Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift (1876) 10 The wicked..labour..to shuffle in suspition amongst those that are free from thought thereof. 1610T. Robinson Justif. Separat. Wks. 1851 II. 490 A bundle of corn shuffled into a field of weeds..cannot make the field a corn-field. 1622Peacham Compl. Gentl. xiii. 150 Coates [of arms] sometimes are by stealth purchased, shuffled into Records and Monuments, by Painters. 1736Watts Logic iii. iv. §3 Nor..cheat your Understanding by changing the Question, or shuffling in anything else in its Room. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. II. 35 He acknowledged that he had shuffled in this letter among other papers which he laid before the king to be signed.
†b. To remove, put aside or away in a hurried, secret, or underhand manner. Obs.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. vi. 29 Her Mother..hath appointed That he shall likewise shuffle her away. 1646R. Baillie Anabaptism (1647) Ep., Then was it good time for them to come in play, and..to shuffle all others, who had managed the Game whilst it was hazardous. 1649Bounds & Bonds Obed. 40 We know..how Joseph was shuffled away by his owne friends and kindred. 1666in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 18 A maid servant, who..was on a sudden shuffled out of the said house. a1754Fielding Univ. Gallant ii. i, It seems, he is not proper company for me, or you would not have shuffled him away yesterday.
c. To bring, put, or thrust into or out of a position or condition in a haphazard, underhand, or shirking manner, or by rough-and-ready means.
1628Shirley Witty Fair One v. i, A spruce Captain, newly crept out of a Gentleman Vsher, and shufled into a Buffe Iurkin with gold Lace. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. v. (1661) 95 By Slight of hand..to shuffle this Canon out of the Acts of the Councel. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. v. 4 That all the Bodies of the first Animals and Plants were shuffled into their several Forms..fortuitously. 1729Lady A. Fanshawe Mem. 267 Thus was he shuffled into your father's Employment. 1810W. Wilson Hist. Diss. Ch. III. 83 Nothing can shuffle out the covenant of grace, but a secret conversing with a covenant of works. 1826Scott Jrnl. 27 Oct., Calais..might..have been shuffled out of our hands during the Civil wars. 1844Kinglake Eothen viii. (1847) 92 She shuffled away the subject of poor dear Somersetshire, and bounded onward into loftier spheres of thought. 1860Trench Serm. xxi. 247 He that shuns and shirks the task of his life, shuffles it from him. c1860M. Arnold Mixed Ess., Democracy (1879) 43 To treat them as if they had been shuffled into their places by a lucky accident.
d. to shuffle off: to get rid of or evade (something difficult, arduous, or irksome) in a perfunctory or unsatisfactory manner; to dispose of evasively; to shirk (a duty or obligation).
In mod. use freq. in echoes of Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 67.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iii. 16 And euer oft good turnes, Are shuffel'd off with such vncurrant pay. 1602― Ham. iii. i. 67 When we have shuffel'd [sic] off this mortall coile. 1642D. Rogers Naaman 38 Men shuffle them [sc. judgements] off thus. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. i. iv. §4 Though he would shuffle off the trouble of apprehending an Infinite Deity. 1784Sir J. Reynolds Disc. xii. (1876) 42 To evade and shuffle off real labour. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. 375 With the full expectation of shuffling off the remnant of existence, after the excellent fashion of that merry Grecian, who died laughing. 1861Thackeray Four Georges ii. (1876) 46 [They] are obliged for propriety's sake to shuffle off the anxious inquiries of the public. 1863Lytton Caxtoniana xxii. II. 70 In reality he shuffles off duty. 1890Saintsbury Ess. Engl. Lit. 272 A mania which some of his admirers have..endeavoured to shuffle off.
†e. to shuffle up: to manage in secret; to hush up. Obs.
1588Lambarde Eiren. iv. xvi. 581 If it be pronounced at the Bench openly..and not shuffled up in a chamber.. secretly. 1605–24Breton I pray you be not angry (Grosart) 6/2 The matter cleanly shuffled vp, and shee with sorrow rather to confesse it in secret. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 551 The Spanish Inquisition, which is shuffled vp in corners.
6. a. intr. and refl. To get in, into or out of a position or condition, by some means or other, in an underhand, shifty, or evasive manner.
1565Harding Answ. Jewel 375 b, In regard of the Rome they haue shuffled them selues into. 1579–80North Plutarch (1595) 511 Sylla valiantly following on his victory, shuffled in [to the City] among them as they fled. 1780Cowper Lett. 4 Mar., We were concerned at your account of Robert, and have little doubt but he will shuffle himself out of his place. 1826Motley Corr. (1889) I. 6, I might enter Sophomore,..but if I should manage to shuffle in I should always be the worst in my class. 1851Helps Comp. Solit. iv. (1874) 48 He would have contrived to shuffle awkwardly out of wealth and dignities. 1887Westm. Rev. June 281 He shuffles out of the consequences by vague..charges of undue influence.
b. to shuffle † over, shuffle through: to perform hurriedly or perfunctorily, get through somehow.
1656Baxter Ref. Pastor Pref. b, If there should be any found..that will shuffle over the work. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xxiv. 418 Dost thou shuffle over thy duties as an interruption to thy business and pleasures? 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 219 The service..was shuffled through..coldly and unfeelingly. 1820J. W. Croker in C. Papers 20 Dec., If we had but a spokesman or two we should shuffle through the session. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. ii. iv, Tom was gradually allowed to shuffle through his lessons with less vigour.
†c. To make scrambling efforts, scuffle. Obs.
1609Daniel Civ. Wars viii. xcix, Shuffling for your roomes Of ease or honor. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 105 Your life, good Master, Must shuffle for it selfe. a1625Fletcher Night-Walker i, He that shall sit down frighted with that foolery Is not worth pity, let me alone to shuffle.
7. a. To act in a shifting or evasive manner; to shift one's ground in argument, etc.; to make use of deceitful pretences or shifty answers.
1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 25, I..am faine to shuffle: to hedge, and to lurch. 1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 5 So shuffling with the Macedonian and Syrian Kings, that betwixt both they still preserved their own estates. 1668O. Sansom in Acc. Life (1710) 60 When you should have produced it [a money-account], you shuffled, and shifted it off; pretending a Mistake. 1706Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 222 Mr. Milles did not frankly own it, but seem'd to shuffle about it. 1815Sporting Mag. XLVI. 165 To him they shuffled in the same manner, and gave him the like false description of themselves. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. I. 125 He said and unsaid, sighed, sobbed, beat his breast, shuffled, implored, threatened.
b. So to shuffle up and down.
1633Ames Fresh Suit ii. 80 Those that are devoted to the Ceremonies may shufle up and downe, first to order, and when they are beaten thence, to Decencie. c1645Howell Lett. 5 June 1635, The Bishop of Halverstadt and Count Mansfelt shuffled up and down a good while. [1871Jowett Plato I. 96 He shuffles up and down [στρέϕεται ἄνω καὶ κάτω] in order to conceal the difficulty into which he has got himself. ]
†8.
a. trans. To manipulate unfairly. Obs.
1589? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 32 With their wresting and shuffling holie Writ. 1593Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 209 If I shuffle any writers wordes, or dazel the Readers eies. 1641in ‘Smectymnuus’ Vind. Answ. Pref. a 2 b, This Authour is misalledged... This Councell shuffled up with little fidelitie.
b. to shuffle up: to get or put together hastily or in a perfunctory manner; to patch up. Obs.
1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 357/1 Yet haue I not so slightly sene vnto mine own, nor shoffled it vp so hasteli,..but that [etc.]. 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. B 4 b, Some stitcher..hath shuffled or slubberd vp a few ragged Rimes. 1607Dekker Westw. Hoe Wks. 1873 III. 295 Like Country Atturnies, wee are to shuffle vp many matters in a forenoone. 1643Baker Chron., Hen. VII, (1653) 355 To shuffle up a Summary proceeding by examination, without tryall of Jury. 1659Lady Alimony ii. iii, A mad match soon shuffled up!
c. To treat (a matter) in an equivocal fashion.
1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iii. iv. 59 He shuffeleth the point deceitfully. 1726Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 251 The Moderator shuffled the matter.
9. a. In immaterial sense: To put (a thing) off from one to another, or upon a person.
1612Sir J. Davies Why Ireland, etc. 168 Their possessions..being shuffled and changed, and remoued so often from one to another. 1642R. Carpenter Experience iv. v. 144 Looke how they shuffle the matter, and give it from one hand to another amongst themselves. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables ccxxxiii. 203 If any thing Hits, we take it to our Selves, if it Miscarries, we shuffle it off to our Neighbours. 1745De Foe's Engl. Tradesm. ii. (1841) I. 18 The warehouse⁓man shuffles them back upon the clothier to lie for his account. 1875McLaren Serm. Ser. ii. vii. 125 Is he trying to shuffle off guilt from his own shoulders? 1879Froude Cæsar xiii. 189 Those who most agreed in what he had done, were not ashamed to shuffle off upon him their responsibilities. 1882Mrs. Raven's Temptation I. 281 I'll shuffle him off upon the governor.
†b. To put (a person) off (with an excuse, a makeshift). Obs.
1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 574 Will any Land-lord bear with his Tennant that shuffels him off from year to year? 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. (1669) 287 Those whom the king had sent to him would not be shuffled off with that answer. 1690C. Nesse Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test. I. 77 It cannot consist with a gracious heart to shuffle off the great God with slight services.
†c. To cheat (a person) out of a thing. Obs.
1627in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) III. 150 He would spend his whole estate before he should be shuffled out of his landes. 1660Pepys Diary 4 July, I..had great fears that they will shuffle me out of them [sc. houses].
10. a. trans. To shift from one place to another; to move about this way and that.
† shuffle the slipper, the game of hunt-the-slipper.
1694Phil. Trans. XVIII. 92 Several Houses now standing were shuffled and moved some Yards from their places. 1697Dryden æneid xi. 1166 Apollo..granting half his pray'r, Shuffled in winds the rest, and toss'd in empty air. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 16 Our hero was beaten..at draw-glove and shuffle the slipper. 1781Cowper Truth 320 Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door..Shuffling her threads about the live-long day.
†b. intr. To shift about hesitatingly. Obs.
c1645Howell Lett. 28 Nov. 1635, The French shuffle yet well enough upon the Frontiers of Germany and Lorrain. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 79 The Wind would shuffle about to the Southward again, and fall flat calm.
†c. To pass into a succession of conditions. Obs.
1635Shirley Traitor ii. D 4 b, The Elements Shuffle into innumerable changes.
11. a. To put (a thing) into a receptacle, put or take (a thing) on, off, etc. in a clumsy or fumbling manner.
1694tr. Marten's Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 161 By it stands a Boy that shuffles the Fat by degrees into a Bag. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. ii, His shoulders shuffle the loose coat off them. 1839James Louis XIV, II. 62 The secretary shuffled the papers hastily under the table cover. 1847Disraeli Tancred iii. ii, He shuffled off his slippers at the threshold. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. iii, When he has shuffled his clothes on. 1869Trollope He knew, etc. lvii. (1878) 319 She could only shuffle her letter back into her pocket.
b. intr. To get into an article of clothing in a clumsy or fumbling manner.
1865Kingsley Herew. xli, Ailward shuffled into his harness. 1883H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 112 The inhabitants..shuffled into their slippers.
c. To fumble. rare.
1812Examiner 30 Nov. 767/2 Collingbourn observed the prisoner busily shuffling about his pockets.
12. Comb.: shuffle beat = shuffle rhythm; shuffle-breeches (meaning obscure); shuffle-cap, ‘a play at which money is shaken in a hat’ (J.); shuffle rhythm, a slow strongly syncopated rhythm (see quot. 1940); shuffle-wing, the hedge-sparrow, Prunella modularis.
1955Shapiro & Hentoff Hear me talkin' to Ya 21 They played the *shuffle beat on the snare drum. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 22 Jan. 22/4 A lot of it's the old southern shuffle beat. Music you could get up and dance to.
1822Cobbett Cottage Econ. (1823) §107 The old *shuffle⁓breeches band of the Quarterly Review.
1712Arbuthnot John Bull ii. iii, He lost his Money at Chuck-Farthing, *Shuffle-Cap, and All-Fours. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy i. x, Even chuck-farthing and shuffle-cap themselves stood gaping till he [the village parson] had got out of sight.
1940Swing June 13/3 The typifying characteristic of the Savitt band is its ‘*shuffle rhythm’, which is distinguished..by its..4/4 jazz time. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 30 Apr. 14/4 From shuffle rhythm to rock he waxed them all.
1829J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Natur. 151 The hedge sparrow, or *shufflewing. 1909W. H. Hudson Afoot in England xxiv. 289, I also love the smaller vocalists—the modest shuffle⁓wing and the lesser whitethroat. 1977Sunday Tel. 6 Feb. 15/7 This is a day on which to..watch truly aggressive chaffinches competing with shufflewings. |