shuffle
pronunciation
How to pronounce shuffle in British English:
UK [ˈʃʌfl]
How to pronounce shuffle in American English:
US [ˈʃʌfl]
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- Noun:
- the act of mixing cards haphazardly
- walking with a slow dragging motion without lifting your feet
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- Verb:
- walk by dragging one's feet
- move about, move back and forth
- mix so as to make a random order or arrangement
Word Origin
- shuffle (v.)
- 1530s, put together hastily," probably from Middle English shovelen "to move with dragging feet," itself probably a frequentative form of shoven (see shove (v.)). Or perhaps from Low German schuffeln "to walk clumsily, deal dishonestly." Of playing cards, first recorded 1560s. Meaning "walk slowly without lifting the feet" is from 1570s. Meaning "push along gradually" is from 1560s. Meaning "move from one place to another" is from 1690s. Meaning "do a shuffle dance" is from 1818. Related: Shuffled; shuffling. Shuffle off "get rid of, dispose of" is from Shakespeare (1601).
- shuffle (n.)
- 1620s, "an evasion, trick;" 1640s, "a wavering or undecided course of behavior meant to deceive;" from shuffle (v.). Meaning "a slow, heavy, irregular manner of moving" is from 1847; that of "a dance in which the feet are shuffled" is from 1640s. Meaning "a change in the order of playing-cards" is from 1650s. Phrase lost in the shuffle is from 1930.
Example
- 1. Purists say that a further drop in house prices would merely shuffle wealth around .
- 2. Tired : big box for a compact game ; cards can be tough to shuffle .
- 3. The appointment , part of a broader top-brass shuffle , consolidates general kayani 's grip on the army .
- 4. But it would shuffle the economic deck , hurting some powerful vested interests even as it created new economic opportunities .
- 5. At home , however , the communist party 's plans for a sweeping shuffle of its hierarchy later this year were beginning to appear less orderly .