Shamble
Shamble , noun
[Old English schamel a bench, stool, Anglo-Saxon scamel, sceamol, a bench, form, stool, from Latin scamellum, dim. of scamnum a bench, stool.]
1.
(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.
2.
A place where butcher's meat is sold.
As summer flies are in the shambles.
3.
A place for slaughtering animals for meat.
To make a shambles of the parliament house.
Shamble , intransitive verb
[Compare OD. schampelen to slip, schampen to slip away, escape. Compare Scamble, Scamper.]
To walk awkwardly and unsteadily, as if the knees were weak; to shuffle along.