Definition of "shimmy"

shimmy

/ˈʃɪ.mi/

noun
plural shimmies
1. A dance move involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately.
2. A dance that was popular in the 1920s.
  Quotations
  The tango, the Texas Tommy, Walking the Dog, the one step, the fox trot, the shimmy, and all their out-growths, had their origin in the palaces of lust on the Barbary Coast of San Francisco.
  1930, Jefferis & Nichols, Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics, page 200
3. An abnormal vibration, especially in the wheels of a vehicle.
4. (rare) A sleeveless chemise.
verb
third-person singular simple present shimmies, present participle shimmying, simple past and past participle shimmied
1. (dance) To perform a shimmy (dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately).
  Quotations
  She wondered would he think her awful, and try to get fresh if she shimmied. Fellows often did. But he was so cute. And a girl had to something about that, and if she didn't shimmy, she might do something worse.
  1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 13, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan
2. To climb something (e.g. a pole) gradually (e.g. using alternately one's arms then one's legs).
3. (intransitive) To vibrate abnormally, as a broken wheel.
  Quotations
  They came in among earth-moving machines, a total absence of trees, the usual hieratic geometry, and eventually, shimmying for the sand roads, down in a helix to a sculptured body of water named Lake Inverarity.
  1966, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, page 37
4. (intransitive, rare) To shake the body as if dancing the shimmy.
5. (intransitive, video games) To move across a narrow ledge, either by hanging from it or by strafing on it along the wall.
  Quotations
  Jump up to the ledge on your right and shimmy around the corner.
  2009, Allison Schubert, Lunabean.com's Videogame Guides of 2008: Adventure 3-Pack
  Climb on top of the room and drop down to shimmy along its back ledge.
  1999, Prima Development, The Big PlayStation Book

Definition of "shimmy"

shimmy

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations