shambles

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The Word of the Day for September 23 is:

shambles   \SHAM-bulz\   noun
     1 : a place of mass slaughter or bloodshed
    *2 : a scene or state of great destruction : wreckage 
     3 : a scene or state of great disorder or confusion : mess

Example sentence:
     The tornado ripped through the picnic ground, leaving the place a shambles 
-- strewn with fallen trees, splintered tables, and other debris.

Did you know?
     How does a word meaning "footstool" turn into a word meaning "mess"? Start 
with the Latin "scamillum," meaning "little bench." Modify the spelling and you 
get the Old English "sceamol," meaning "a footstool" or "a table used for 
counting money or exhibiting goods." Alter again to the Middle English 
"shamele," and the meaning can easily become more specific: "a table for the 
exhibition of meat for sale." Pluralize and you have the base of the 
15th-century term "shambles," meaning "meat market." A century takes "shambles" 
from "meat market" to "slaughterhouse," then to figurative use referring to a 
place of terrible slaughter or bloodshed (say, a battlefield). The scene of a 
slaughter can get messy, so it's logical for the word to pick up the modern 
sense "mess" or "state of great confusion." Transition accomplished.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.