shambles
1shambles — [sham′bəlz] n. 〚ME schamel, bench, as for displaying meat for sale < OE scamol, bench or stool, akin to Ger schemel < early WGmc borrowing < L scamellum, dim. < scamnum, bench < IE base * skabh , * skambh , to prop up > Sans skámbhana , a… …
2shambles — The word now most commonly used to mean ‘a mess or muddle’ has a colourful history. It started life in Old English in the singular form shamble meaning ‘a stool or footstool’, came to refer to a table or stall for the sale of meat, and was then… …
3shambles — [sham′bəlz] n. [ME schamel, bench, as for displaying meat for sale < OE scamol, bench or stool, akin to Ger schemel < early WGmc borrowing < L scamellum, dim. < scamnum, bench < IE base * skabh , * skambh , to prop up > Sans… …
4shambles — I noun cataclysm, chaos, confusion, destruction, disorder, disorganization, disruption, havoc, holocaust, jumble, laniena, madhouse, maelstrom, mayhem, mess, pandemonium, scene of destruction, scene of disorder, state of violence, turmoil,… …
5shambles — (n.) late 15c., meat or fish market, from schamil table, stall for vending (c.1300), from O.E. scomul, sceamel stool, footstool, table for vending, an early West Germanic borrowing (Cf. O.S. skamel, M.Du. schamel, O.H.G. scamel, Ger. schemel)… …
6shambles — [n] a mess anarchy, babel, bedlam, botch, chaos, confusion, disarray, disorder, disorganization, hash, havoc, hodge podge, madhouse, maelstrom, mess up, mix up, muddle; concepts 230,674 Ant. order, organization …
7shambles — ► NOUN 1) informal a state of complete disorder. 2) archaic a butcher s slaughterhouse. ORIGIN originally in the sense «meat market»: plural of earlier shamble «stool, stall», from Latin scamellum little bench …
8shambles — n. 1) to make a shambles of; to turn smt. into a shambles 2) in (a) shambles (their economy is in shambles) * * * [ ʃæmb(ə)lz] to turn smt. into a shambles to make a shambles of in (a) shambles (their economy is in shambles) …
9shambles — sham|bles [ˈʃæmbəlz] n [Date: 1900 2000; Origin: shambles place where animals are killed for meat, scene of great killing or destruction (16 20 centuries), from shamble table from which meat is sold, meat market (14 19 centuries), from Old… …
10shambles — noun informal a shambles a) an event or situation that is a complete failure because it has not been organized or planned properly: be (in) a shambles: By 1985 the economy was in a shambles. | make a shambles of sth: Potts, you made a complete… …
