shamble

/ˈʃæmbəl/

/ˈʃæmbəl/

Other forms: shambles; shambled

When you shamble down the street, you move slowly and shuffle your feet. People who shamble along are usually tired, elderly, or sad.

An exhausted hiker might shamble along the final mile of trail after weeks of walking, and your grandfather might be the speediest one in his nursing home, passing up the residents who shamble along with their walkers. A kindergarten teacher might call to her class, "Don't shamble! Pick up your feet and let's go to the library!" Shamble probably comes from the outdated adjective that means "ungainly or awkward."

Definitions of shamble

1. verb

   walk by dragging one's feet
   synonyms: scuffle, shuffle

   types:

   drag, scuff

   walk without lifting the feet

   type of:

   walk

   use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
2. noun

   walking with a slow dragging motion without lifting your feet
   “from his shambling I assumed he was very old”

   synonyms: shambling, shuffle, shuffling

   type of:

   walk, walking

   the act of traveling by foot