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Shimmy vs Squirm - What's the difference?

shimmy | squirm |

As nouns the difference between shimmy and squirm

is that shimmy is a dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately while squirm is a twisting, snakelike movement of the body.

As verbs the difference between shimmy and squirm

is that shimmy is (dance) to perform a (dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately) while squirm is to twist one’s body with snakelike motions.

shimmy

English

(wikipedia shimmy)

Noun

(shimmies)
  • A dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately.
  • An abnormal vibration, especially in the wheels of a vehicle.
  • A dance that was popular in the 1920s.
  • (rare) A sleeveless chemise.
  • Verb

  • (dance) To perform a (dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately).
  • To climb something (e.g. a pole) gradually (e.g. using alternately one's arms then one's legs).
  • He shimmied up the flagpole.
    The static made her dress shimmy up her leg.
  • To vibrate abnormally, as a broken wheel.
  • (rare) To shake the body as if dancing the shimmy.
  • Synonyms

    * (climb a pole) shinny, shin (qualifier)

    squirm

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To twist one’s body with snakelike motions.
  • The prisoner managed to squirm out of the straitjacket.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter IV
  • ...around us there had sprung up a perfect bedlam of screams and hisses and a seething caldron of hideous reptiles, devoid of fear and filled only with hunger and with rage. They clambered, squirmed and wriggled to the deck, forcing us steadily backward, though we emptied our pistols into them.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
  • "Throw it away, dear, do," she said, as they got into the road; but Jacob squirmed away from her...
  • To twist in discomfort, especially from shame or embarrassment.
  • I recounted the embarrassing story in detail just to watch him squirm .
  • * 2010 , , Questionable Content 1686: Twist in the Wind
  • MARIGOLD: Should I tell them I know?
    DORA: Nah, let ’em squirm . Let’s go get some pie.
  • To evade (a question, an interviewer etc).
  • (figuratively) To move in a slow, irregular motion.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=February 5 , author=Michael Kevin Darling , title=Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The Dutchman then missed a retaken second spot-kick, before the Trotters hit back when Daniel Sturridge's shot squirmed under Heurelho Gomes. }}

    Derived terms

    * squirmage * squirmish * squirmishness * squirmy

    Synonyms

    * (twist with snakelike motions) writhe, wriggle * (twist in discomfort) fidget

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A twisting, snakelike movement of the body.