shuffle

/ˈʃʌfəl/

/ˈʃʌfəl/

Other forms: shuffled; shuffles

To shuffle is to drag your feet slowly along the ground as you walk. A kid might shuffle reluctantly off to his room only after being told five times that it's bedtime.

Shuffle also means to wiggle around, like if you shuffle uncomfortably in your seat while watching a five-hour movie. If you get lost in the shuffle, you’re lost in the crowd. Another way to use shuffle is to mean "mix up in a random way," as you do with a deck of cards before dealing a hand. Shuffle probably comes from the Low German word schuffeln, which means both "to walk clumsily" and "to deal dishonestly."

Definitions of shuffle

1. verb

   walk by dragging one's feet
   “he shuffled out of the room”

   “We heard his feet shuffling down the hall”

   synonyms: scuffle, shamble

   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
   synonyms: shamble, shambling, shuffling

   type of:

   walk, walking

   the act of traveling by foot
3. verb

   move about, move back and forth
   “He shuffled his funds among different accounts in various countries so as to avoid the IRS”

   type of:

   shift, transfer

   move around
4. verb

   mix so as to make a random order or arrangement
   “shuffle the cards”

   synonyms: mix, ruffle

   types:

   reshuffle

   shuffle again

   riffle

   shuffle (playing cards) by separating the deck into two parts and riffling with the thumbs so the cards intermix

   cut

   divide a deck of cards at random into two parts to make selection difficult

   type of:

   manipulate

   hold something in one's hands and move it
5. noun

   the act of mixing cards haphazardly
   synonyms: make, shuffling

   types:

   reshuffle, reshuffling

   shuffling again

   riffle

   shuffling by splitting the pack and interweaving the two halves at their corners

   type of:

   reordering

   a rearrangement in a different order