- Home
- Idioms
- shuffle
shuffle
shuffle off this mortal coil
Euph. to die. (Often jocular or formal euphemism. Not often used in consoling someone.) Cousin Fred shuffled off this mortal coil after suffering a heart attack. When I shuffle off this mortal coil, I want to go out in style—bells, flowers, and a long, boring funeral.
lost in the shuffle
ignored or forgotten
In conflicts between doctors and insurance companies, patients' needs may be lost in the shuffle. Usage notes: often used in the form get lost in the shuffle: Maybe your name got lost in the shuffle when we typed the list.
Etymology: based on the idea of losing a playing card when the cards are shuffled (moved around)
lost in the shuffle
(American & Australian) if something or someone gets lost in the shuffle, they do not get the attention that they deserve Refugee children in the big camps just get lost in the shuffle and are sometimes left without food.
shuffle off this mortal coil
(humorous) to die
Usage notes: This phrase comes from the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
I really want to see the Coliseum before I shuffle off this mortal coil. lost in the shuffle
Failing to stand out among others, as in In that huge economics class Jane's afraid she'll get lost in the shuffle. This metaphoric term alludes to mixing playing cards before dealing them. [c. 1900]
shuffle off
1. Get rid of, act evasively, as in They've tried to shuffle off public inquiries about the safety of their planes. This usage, dating from about 1600, also appears in the oft-quoted shuffle off this mortal coil, from Shakespeare's Hamlet (3:1), where it means "become freed from the turmoil of life," that is, "die."
2. Move away reluctantly, dragging one's feet, as in The prisoners shuffled off to their work detail. [Late 1500s]
shuffle off
v.1. To go with short sliding steps, without or barely lifting the feet: The sleepy children shuffled off to bed.
2. To leave; depart: Toward the end of the evening, the guests shuffled off one by one.
3. To rid oneself of something; dispose of or relocate something: I have not been able to shuffle off my embarrassment. The computer program automatically shuffles the outdated files off to another disk.
4. To evade or shirk something, such as a responsibility: He shuffled off his responsibilities and went to the beach. She shuffled her work off onto others because she wasn't feeling well.
shuffle off this mortal coil
Die. This phrase that appears in Hamlet combines the archaic meaning of two words. “Shuffle” meant “rid,” while “coil” meant “troubles.” As Shakespeare put it, “What dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause.”