shuckle

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Pronunciations

shuckle (SHUH-kull) listen

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Definitions

  • v. To sway back and forth during prayer.

Example Sentences

  • "I don't shuckle--I'm not that frum."

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • שאָקלען shoklen 'to shake'

      • Who Uses This

      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

      Regions

      • North America
      • Australia / New Zealand
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).

      Alternative Spellings

      shuckel, shokel, shukel, shockel, shuchel, shukhel, shuchl, shukhl

Notes

  • "Traditional Jews often shuckle while they daven. Some say the custom of shuckling symbolizes the soul as a flickering flame, moving and striving upward to God." (JPS)

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