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💃 To shake body 🎷 A dance 🤲 To tremble 🚗 A car shake 👗 A slip
to shimmy

to shimmy

10 7.7
To shake the body quickly from side to side as a dance move
  • verb
  • /ˈʃɪmi/
translation icon : menear
  • The dancers took the stage and started to shimmy, captivating the audience with their energetic moves.
  • shimmy your hips
  • shake and shimmy
  • shimmy down the runway

There's like some shimmying happening and some grunting as people are coming down, starting to come down.

Examples

  • Just shimmy out like Mommy told you to.

    The Happytime Murders (2018)

  • And I shimmy and they shimmy

    Jackass: The Movie (2002)

  • So see that we want to like shimmy and shift it.

  • But first shimmy for your life.

  • Biggins, you got to shimmy it to the back.

    Honor Society (2022)

  • Be polite but firm when Vic asks me to shimmy while wearing the hat.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Watch me fall on my knees, now dance on my knees, shimmy on my knees.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Aw, everyone's shimmying now.

    Blended (2014)

  • Removing the pasties, shimmying again, she leaned in, rubbed against him, and nuzzled his cheek.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • CAMERA TILTS UP above the partying hordes to find Lex shimmying along an exposed duct amid the pipes, sprinklers, and vents.

    Fiction book (1999)

Synonyms

to shake
vsto shimmy
916 1.0

To move quickly from side to side or up and down

is limited to quick side to side body movement used in dancing
to wiggle
vsto shimmy
89 1.0

To move with small, quick movements from side to side or up and down

is used mainly in dance rather than as a general motion
to jiggle
vsto shimmy
46 3.2

To move something in short, quick shaking movements

is a rapid side to side body movement rather than light vertical motion

Antonyms

to stand still
75 1.0

Stay upright in one place without moving

to stabilize
  • US
75 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

Phrasal Verbs

to shimmy on down
  • Informal
9.1

To move or dance quickly toward a place

How Vigorous

to shake
916 1.0
to shimmy
10 7.7
to wobble
40 3.8
to quiver
47 4.5
to tremble
164 2.5

Surface Forms

shimmy infinitive
shimmed past
shimmed past participle
shimmying present participle
shimmies third person singular

Etymology

Shimmy comes from the idea of quick shaking, much like the familiar word shake, so to shimmy is to 'shake' your body quickly as a dance move.