Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the gambling game of chemin de fer.

1921		Lanarks. Post 17 Apr. 4/2: ‘Shemmy’ is a pastime that [...] make[s] an especial appeal to stage folks.
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 249: They confine their play to ‘shimmy’ (chemin de fer) and they have but one confederate — a sandy-haired Russian with swift fingers and a glib tongue.
1952		(ref. to 1923) C. Amory Last Resorts 350: In 1923, the year that chemin de fer was added to roulette and hazard [...] over three million dollars changed hands at the so-called ‘chimmy’ table.
1961		C.H. Goren Hoyle Encyc. of Games 644: Shemmy = Chemin de Fer.
1971		A. Morehead Hoyle Up-to-date 204: Baccarat Chemin-de-fer, usually called simply Chemin-de-fer (or SHEMMY).
1992		Guardian 5 Oct. 12/3: Financial Deregulation (aka chemin de fer, shemmy, etc.) [...] The object is to ‘fade’ the banker.
1998		J. May Baccarat for the Clueless 91: Also known by its nickname Chimmy [...] Chemin de Fer .
2004		J. Dann Jubilee 365: We have a modified version of chemin de fer, which we call blind shemmy. All the cards are played facedown.

2. (also shemmy) the road.

1968

A. Burgess Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 303: Gobblers watching at the airport and on the shemmy.