shamble
/ˈʃamb(ə)l
/verb [no object, with adverbial of direction]
(Of a person) move with a slow, shuffling, awkward gait: he shambled off down the corridor...
- Here we are shambling and wounded and lonely at the end of the world.
- After the short ceremony, these loutish tourists shambled off in their jeans and high nuisance-factor anoraks.
- Josh Davis has just shambled on to the stage, pottering about and digging through a tatty backpack for cartridges and CDs.
Synonyms
shuffle, lumber, totter, dodder, stumble;
scuff/drag one's feet;
hobble, limp
ungainly, lumbering, shuffling, awkward, clumsy, uncoordinated, heavy-footed
noun [in singular]
A slow, shuffling, awkward gait: he adopted a humorous apelike shamble...
- Fans are used to Young's laid-back stage presence, the hunched shoulders, eyes often masked by cap or hat, the trademark shamble and lurch.
- After two minutes of stumbling, the song switches gears, grinding against itself before going for a brief jaunt, and then concluding with a reprisal of the introductory shamble.
- It began its slow shamble towards the car, ignoring the headlights that cut through the fog in front of it and shone in its eyes.
Origin
Late 16th century: probably from dialect shamble 'ungainly', perhaps from the phrase shamble legs, with reference to the legs of trestle tables (such as would be used in a meat market: see shambles).