shimmying

Verb

shimmy (third-person singular simple present shimmies, present participle shimmying, simple past and past participle shimmied)

1. To perform a shimmy (dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately).
   • 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).
   • He shimmied up the flagpole.

   Synonyms:

   shinny, shin

3. (intransitive) To vibrate abnormally, as a broken wheel.
   • 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 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 37
4. (intransitive, rare) To shake the body as if dancing the shimmy.
5. (intransitive) To move across a narrow ledge, either by hanging from it or by strafing on it along the wall.
   • 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

See all 9 meanings of shimmy