Shake

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʃeɪk/
• Rhymes: -eɪk
• Homophones: sheik, sheikh one pronunciation

Origin

From Middle English schaken, from Old English sceacan, scacan ("to shake"). from Proto-Germanic *skakaną ("to shake, swing, escape"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keg-, *(s)kek- ("to jump, move"). Cognate with Scots schake, schack ("to shake"), West Frisian schaekje ("to shake"), Dutch schaken ("to elope, make clean, shake"), Low German schacken ("to shake"), Swedish skaka ("to shake"), Dutch schokken ("to shake, shock"), Russian скакать ("to jump"). More at shock.

Full definition of shake

Verb

1. (transitive, ergative) To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
   The earthquake shook the building.
   He shook the can of soda for thirty seconds before delivering it to me, so that, when I popped it open, soda went everywhere.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 19, Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
2. (transitive) To move (one's head) from side to side, especially to indicate a negative.
   Shaking his head, he kept repeating "No, no, no".
3. (transitive) To move or remove by agitating; to throw off by a jolting or vibrating motion.
   to shake fruit down from a tree
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)Shake off the golden slumber of repose.
• John Bunyan (1628-1688)I could scarcely shake him out of my company.
4. (transitive) To disturb emotionally; to shock.
   her father's death shook her terribly;  he was shaken by what had happened
• 2013-07-20, The attack of the MOOCs, Since the launch early last year of … two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
5. (transitive) To lose, evade, or get rid of (something).
   I can't shake the feeling that I forgot something.
6. (intransitive) To move from side to side.
   She shook with grief.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 23, The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
7. (intransitive, usually as "shake on") To shake hands.
   OK, let's shake on it.
8. (intransitive) To dance.
   She was shaking it on the dance floor.
9. To give a tremulous tone to; to trill.
   to shake a note in music

Derived terms

Noun

1. The act of shaking something.The cat gave the mouse a shake.
2. A milkshake.
3. A beverage made by adding ice cream to a (usually carbonated) drink; a float.
4. Shake cannabis, small, leafy fragments of cannabis that gather at the bottom of a bag of marijuana.
5. (building material) A thin shingle.
6. A crack or split between the growth rings in wood.
7. A fissure in rock or earth.
8. (informal) Instant, second. (Especially in two shakes.)
• Wodehouse Offing|XXI|“And do you realize that in a few shakes I've got to show up at dinner and have Mrs Cream being very, very kind to me? It hurts the pride of the Woosters, Jeeves.”
9. (nautical) One of the staves of a hogshead or barrel taken apart.
10. (music) A rapid alternation of a principal tone with another represented on the next degree of the staff above or below it; a trill.
11. A shook of staves and headings.
12. (UK, dialect) The redshank, so called from the nodding of its head while on the ground.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• hakes