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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
shimmy
verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ His athletic, shimmying run then set up the second-try for Dewi Morris.
▪ SHIme may be nonsense, or it may refer to shimmy or some other term, but it is not Yiddish.
▪ The alternative was to shimmy across a fallen log.
▪ Would she prefer that to shimmying down another catwalk?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shimmy

Shimmy \Shim"my\, n. A chemise. [Colloq.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
shimmy

"do a suggestive dance," 1918, perhaps via phrase shake the shimmy, which is possibly from shimmy (n.), a U.S. dialectal form of chemise (mistaken as a plural; compare shammy) first recorded 1837. Or perhaps the verb is related to shimmer (v.) via a notion of glistening light. Transferred sense of "vibration of a motor vehicle" is from 1925. Related: Shimmied; shimmying. As a noun, the name of a popular, fast, suggestive pre-flapper dance, by 1919.

Wiktionary
shimmy

n. 1 A dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately. 2 An abnormal vibration, especially in the wheels of a vehicle. 3 A dance that was popular in the 1920s. 4 (context rare English) A sleeveless chemise. vb. 1 (context dance English) To perform a #Noun (dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately). 2 To climb something (e.g. a pole) gradually (e.g. using alternately one's arms then one's legs). 3 (context intransitive English) To vibrate abnormally, as a broken wheel. 4 (context intransitive rare English) To shake the body as if dancing the shimmy.

WordNet
shimmy
  1. n. an abnormal wobble in a motor vehicle (especially in the fromt wheels); "he could feel the shimmy in the steering wheel"

  2. a woman's sleeveless undergarment [syn: chemise, shift, slip, teddies, teddy]

  3. lively dancing (usually to ragtime music) with much shaking of the shoulders and hips

  4. v. tremble or shake; "His voice wobbled with restrained emotion" [syn: wobble]

  5. dance a shimmy

  6. [also: shimmied]

Wikipedia
Shimmy

A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward. It may help to hold the arms out slightly bent at the elbow, and when the shoulders are moved, keep the hands in the same position.

In 1917, a dance-song titled "Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble" by Spencer Williams was published, as was "The Jazz Dance", which included the "Shimmy-She", among others.

" I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" was an up-tempo jazz dance song, written by Clarence Williams and Armand Piron, and published in 1919 which has been enduringly popular ever since and performed and recorded by many artists.

Flappers often performed the dance in the 1920s. The origin of the name is often attributed to Gilda Gray, a Polish emigrant to America. An anecdote says that when she was asked about her dancing style, she answered, in heavy accent, "I'm shaking my chemise". However, in an interview Gilda denied having said this, and earlier usages of the word are recorded. In the late 1910s others were also attributed as being the "inventor" of the shimmy, including Bee Palmer. Mae West, in her autobiography Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, claimed to have retitled the "Shimmy-Shawobble" as the Shimmy herself, after seeing the moves in some black nightclubs.

The dance was often considered to be obscene and was frequently banned from dance halls during the 1920s.

The move is also known in Gypsy dances. In Russian this move is called " Tsyganochka", or "gypsy girl", and is done by gypsy female dancers to produce a chime of costume decorations made of the sewn-on coins.

The dance move with this name is used in various modern dances.

In the early 1960's, several dance songs featuring the Shimmy became hits, including Bobby Freeman's "Shimmy, Shimmy," the Olympics' "Shimmy Like Kate", and Little Anthony & the Imperials' "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-ko Bop."

The shimmy is also a class of belly dance moves. Depending on the desired effect, style, teacher, and country of origin of the particular dance, a shimmy might be executed differently, but altogether, the shimmy will manifest as a fast shaking or shuddering movement that can be rhythmic or arrhythmic. The movement may be localized, such as in the hips, shoulder, chest, etc., or the move might be loose and general, reverberating through the entire body. Shimmies in belly dance can also have orientation, such as an up/down movement or a twisting movement of the hips.

Bee Palmer first attracted significant attention as one of the first exponents of the shimmy in the late 1910s. She was sometimes credited as the creator of the "shimmy" (although there were other claimants at the time as well).

Shimmy (disambiguation)

A shimmy is a dance move

Shimmy may also refer to:

  • Shimmy (TV series) for the belly dance instructional television series
  • Speed wobble, an oscillating instability in vehicle steering wheels
  • Shimmy is also a common nickname for the Hebrew name Shimon.
Shimmy (Janet Leon song)

"Shimmy" is a song by Swedish singer Janet Leon from her debut solo album Janet and features vocals from rapper Tha Will. It was later covered by British singer, Preeya Kalidas. It was released as a single on July 26, 2010 by Kalidas via digital download. The song features British rapper, Mumzy Stranger. The song was picked to be the lead single from Kalidas's first studio album, Constant Cravings. The single proved to be a disappointment for Kalidas' record label Mercury, debuting at #85 on the UK Singles Chart and staying inside the Top 100 for one week.

Shimmy (TV series)

Shimmy is a fitness television series broadcast in Canada on ONE: The Mind and Body Channel that emphasizes the health benefits of belly dance. The twenty six episode series was designed by Kim Pechet, a belly dance instructor and fitness professional. An original Canadian production, Shimmy premiered October 1, 2007 on ACCESS and CLT in Canada as well as in the United States on Discovery Health and OWN. Shimmy has been broadcast throughout Central and South America, Germany, and India as well as in Canada and the United States.

Usage examples of "shimmy".

She stripped, slipped the white picot dress from the hanger, and shimmied into it.

He shimmied his hips in pleasurable sync with the exaggerated double bobbing upon the plasterboard screen.

Standing before him, Rachel unsnapped her jeans and shimmied out of them.

With jerky movements she tugged off her blouse and trous, shimmied out of her breastband and pantlettes.

All he had to do now was to freewheel down the mountain at speeds of up to ninety kilometres an hour, not touching his brakes, ass in the air, head on the bars, leaning in and out of corners, slender tyres shimmying on the gravel at the bends, looking out to a drop of clear oxygen miles below.

Jacob proudly explain how the pulley worked as Tav shimmied up the tree and looped the ropes over a thick branch.

With a few liquid moves, she shimmied it over her head where it slid down and turned itself into a microdress.

The creature had shimmied up onto the bed and now had its bone and muck body poised over its victim.

He shimmied up the well, feeling every inch of the ascent, until he was just below the lip.

The Plymouth hesitated, shimmied for a moment, then took off in a cloud of exhaust down the street.

She cursed the wet suit as she shimmied out of it and tossed it through the window.

Holmes laughed nervously as a drop of moisture shimmied into the corner of his eye.

He shimmies up the trellis, does a spiderman routine over to the nearest window and in he goes.

The last time I went to see Aimee, she was living in a shimmy row house near Parliament Street, in Toronto.

In her travels Nicola had often sat in shared bedrooms and cabins and boudoirs and powder parlours, and watched debutantes, predatory divorcees, young hostesses, even reasonably successful good-time girls shimmying out of their cocktail dresses and ballgowns to reveal some bunched nightmare of bloomers, tights, long Johns, Y-fronts.