One interesting word I’ve heard people using in Shetland is shoogle [ʃogl; ʃugl; ʃʌgl; ʃʌugl], which means;
– to sway, move unsteadily, to rock, wobble, swing;
– to shake, joggle, to cause to totter or rock, to swing backwards and forwards;
– to jog along, move with little unsteady jerks; to shuffle in walking
It is also written shogle, schogle, shooggle, shougle, shuggle and shochle, and comes from the word shog (jolt, shake), from the Middle English shoggen, shaggen [source].
A related word is shoogly, which means wobbly.
Here are a few examples of usage (from the Dictionary of the Scots Language):
– It’s a bit rusty but it still works – you just have to give the key a bit of a shoogle in the lock.
– Gie the salad dressin a shoogle tae mix it right.
– It was gey shoggly and sometimes I fell off.
– Will I hae to shoogle hands wi’ a’ that crood?
I just like the sound of this word.
