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Shake

[sheyk]

Example Sentences Origin

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verb (used without object)

to move or sway with short, quick, irregular vibratory movements.

to tremble with emotion, cold, etc.

to become dislodged and fall (usually followed by off or down): Sand shakes off easily.

to move something, or its support or container, briskly to and fro or up and down, as in mixing: Shake before using.

to totter; become unsteady.

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to clasp another's hand in greeting, agreement, congratulations, etc.: Let's shake and be friends again.

Music. to execute a trill.

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verb (used with object)

to move (something or its support or container) to and fro or up and down with short, quick, forcible movements: to shake a bottle of milk.

to brandish or flourish: to shake a stick at someone.

10.

to grasp (someone or something) firmly in an attempt to move or rouse by, or as by, vigorous movement to and fro: We shook the tree.

11.

to dislodge or dispense (something) by short, quick, forcible movements of its support or container: We shook nuts from the tree.

12.

to cause to sway, rock, totter, etc.: to shake the very foundations of society.

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13.

to agitate or disturb profoundly in feeling: The experience shook him badly.

14.

to cause to doubt or waver; weaken. to shake one's self-esteem.

15.

Music. to trill (a note).

16.

to mix (dice) by rolling in the palm of the hand before they are cast.

17.

to get rid of; elude: They tried to shake their pursuers.

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Shake is always a great word to know.

So is diminished chord. Does it mean:

dissonant chord

sequence of notes or chords indicating completion of a composition, section, phrase

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

18.

an act or instance of shaking, rocking, swaying, etc.

19.

tremulous motion.

20.

a tremor.

21.

shakes, (used with a singular verb) Informal. a state or spell of trembling, as caused by fear, fever, cold, etc. (usually preceded by the).

22.

a disturbing blow; shock.

EXPAND

23.

Informal. milk shake.

24.

the act or a manner of clasping another's hand in greeting, agreement, etc.: He has a strong shake.

25.

Informal. chance or fate; deal: a fair shake.

26.

a cast of the dice: He threw an eight on his last shake.

27.

something resulting from shaking.

28.

an earthquake.

29.

a fissure in the earth.

30.

an internal crack or fissure in timber.

31.

Music. trill¹ (def. 9).

32.

an instant: I'll be with you in a shake.

33.

Carpentry. a shingle or clapboard formed by splitting a short log into a number of tapered radial sections with a hatchet.

34.

Horology. (in an escapement) the distance between the nearer corner of one pallet and the nearest tooth of the escape wheel when the other pallet arrests an escape tooth.

35.

Chiefly South Midland U.S. shaker (def. 2).

36.

a dance deriving from the twist.

37.

Slang. the dried leaves of the marijuana plant.

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Verb phrases

38.

shake down,

to cause to descend by shaking; bring down.

to cause to settle.

to condition; test: to shake down a ship.

Informal. to extort money from.

Slang. to search (someone), especially to detect concealed weapons.

39.

shake off,

to rid oneself of; reject.

to get away from; leave behind.

Baseball, Softball. (of a pitcher) to indicate rejection of (a sign by the catcher for a certain pitch) by shaking the head or motioning with the glove.

40.

shake up,

to shake in order to mix or loosen.

to upset; jar.

to agitate mentally or physically: The threat of attack has shaken up the entire country.

Idioms

41.

no great shakes, Informal. of no particular ability; unimportant; common: As opera companies go, this one is no great shakes.

42.

shake a leg, Informal.

to hurry up; get a move on: You'd better shake a leg or we'll miss the first act.

to dance.

43.

shake hands. hand (def. 77).

44.

shake one's head,

to indicate disapproval, disagreement, negation, or uncertainty by turning one's head from one side to the other and back: I asked him if he knew the answer, but he just shook his head.

to indicate approval, agreement, affirmation or acceptance by nodding one's head up and down.

45.

shake the dust from one's feet. dust (def. 25).

EXPAND

46.

two shakes (of a lamb's tail), a very short time; a moment.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
before 900; (v.) Middle English s(c)haken, Old English sceacan; cognate with Low German schacken, Old Norse skaka; (noun) derivative of the v.

Related forms

shak·a·ble, shake·a·ble, adjective

re·shake, verb, -shook, -shak·en, -shak·ing.

un·shak·a·ble, adjective

un·shak·a·ble·ly, adverb

un·shake·a·ble, adjective

EXPAND

un·shake·a·ble·ly, adverb

un·sha·ken, adjective

well-shak·en, adjective

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: shake, sheik (see synonym note at the current entry).

Synonyms
1. oscillate, waver. Shake, quiver, tremble, vibrate refer to an agitated movement that, in living things, is often involuntary. To shake is to agitate more or less quickly, abruptly, and often unevenly so as to disturb the poise, stability, or equilibrium of a person or thing: a pole shaking under his weight. To quiver is to exhibit a slight vibratory motion such as that resulting from disturbed or irregular (surface) tension: The surface of the pool quivered in the breeze. To tremble (used more often of a person) is to be agitated by intermittent, involuntary movements of the muscles, much like shivering and caused by fear, cold, weakness, great emotion, etc.: Even stout hearts tremble with dismay. To vibrate is to exhibit a rapid, rhythmical motion: A violin string vibrates when a bow is drawn across it. 2. shudder, shiver. 14. daunt.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Shake

Example Sentences

But its growing pains have not been nearly as tumultuous as the ones that threatened to shake up the six major conferences last.

Old drugs are falling from favour, new ones are growing, and the economic slump may shake things up again.

Zebrafish babies got rhythm-and shake their booties to prove it, a new study shows.

EXPAND

But its growing pains have not been nearly as tumultuous as the ones that threatened to shake up the six major conferences last.

Old drugs are falling from favour, new ones are growing, and the economic slump may shake things up again.

Zebrafish babies got rhythm-and shake their booties to prove it, a new study shows.

Coastal inhabitants can be educated to run to higher ground when they feel the land shake from an.

Deconstructing birdsong may seem an unlikely way to shake up biology.

With a spading fork or a spade, gently lift rhizomes from the ground and shake off soil.

Certain words can shake the blogosphere in much the same way earthquakes stir the planet.

The government's mission to shake up education has been a political struggle.

What began as a gentle trembling of the ground quickly grew strong enough to shake buildings.

With each new incident of record monsoon floods, fires and earthquakes, more tremors shake the global economy.

In some groups monkeys kiss, in others they aggressively shake branches at one another.

The best strategy is to shake snow off or knock it off with a broom to keep it from building up.

The article doesn't shake loose any new information, but.

For others, it is a welcome breadth of fresh air, a chance to shake off some of the shackles imposed by government.

Back then, it seemed that nothing could shake a sense of stability.

Sudden movement along the fault causes the ground to shake.

These vibrations shake the pollen off the flower's anthers and onto the bee's body.

How things shake out will undoubtedly influence our understanding of how and why dinosaurs became extinct on the continent.

Unwrap the rose, shake packing material from the roots, and cut off the tag.

Colliding galaxies don't shake up enough food to feed enormous black holes lurking in their centers.

We need someone to shake up the place, to execute a revolution, and to get rid of some deadwood.

Fewer than a fifth of those who catch the virus shake it off.

Then shake your device to break the picture up into multiple pieces.

Solar panels that can shake off their dust off via a self-generated electric pulse keep soaking in maximal rays.

Before water polo games, the captains of the two teams customarily meet at poolside with the referee and shake hands.

D-Box movie-theater chairs will shake you in time to the on-screen action.

Mentor urges them to take deep breaths, shake themselves, and look again.

He would shake out into his palm a handful of pills from a bottle, open his wide red mouth, and fail to swallow them.

Back on dry land, the ponies shake the water from their manes.

Quakes sometimes shake its surface, much of which is covered by oceans.

The best way to harvest is to wait until first fruit drops, then spread a tarp underneath and give the tree a shake.

If they grab you, you can shake them loose in order to run away again.

Though it always seems true that the criticisms are harder to shake than the compliments.

The declining rates may help people to shake off the idea that crime rises during economic downturns.

Thus, it had to either bite and shake large chunks out of prey, or swallow prey whole.

The crisis should not shake confidence in the scientific method.

Wearing barbecue mitts, remove pan from grill and gently shake asparagus in pan until oil coats bottom and sides of pan evenly.

Hollywood is green-lighting any thriller you can shake a handheld camera at.

Oh, if you are a man, don't shake hands or touch them.

All told, eastern earthquakes can shake areas ten times greater than comparable western ones.

Fill the bottle to the top with tap water and shake gently to combine the liquids.

Such quakes will shake china from shelves and crack paint only immediately near the epicenter.

At this point you need to vigorously shake the package to make sure the wort and yeast are well mixed.

Animals charge across the ceiling, shake their manes, raise their tails or lay crouched.

Give yourself a few years to get past the need to shake out the sheets every night before you get into bed.

And he wants to shake up a police department that is demoralised and in need of change.

Thankfully, no one was around the bridge to induce camera shake.

When you shake it, little vinegar droplets scatter through the oil.

Prune dried bloom stalks from penstemon plants, then shake them upside down inside a plastic garbage bag or over a tarp.

Miners clear the forest, and then use explosives to shake loose the stone, which is combed for coal.

They couldn't shake what they had done or justify the killing to themselves.

There is talk of machines that will print from powdered gold and shake up the jewellery-design business.

For those that can't shake that fear, there's indoor skydiving.

Gently shake off excess soil and divide with a sharp knife, pruning shears, or a shovel.

Do that too much and those brain cells shake loose and die.

For some students, that influence is real hard to shake off.

Moreover, the clubs' ties to crime have been hard to shake off.

The snakes' colors can resemble venomous coral snakes, and the creatures can mimic a rattlesnake's noisy tail shake.

Shake it up with these varieties for tastier matches more.

Less shake means users can pound for longer periods before their hands fall off.

Moreover, these emerging markets are likely to shake things up not only in their own backyards but in rich countries too.

People still die in stunning numbers when the ground beneath their feet begins to shake.

Remove a plant from its container and shake excess soil from around the roots or gently swirl the rootball in a bucket of water.

Shake or stir until the drink turns a light orange-pink color.

Recruiting outsiders is something of a last-ditch attempt to shake up the islands' inward-looking policing culture.

Dressed in batik shirts and slacks, they glided across the floor to shake my hand.

But the iK500 is made to shake your wainscots and windows.

If hedge funds are beginning to shake up the banking industry, it is a fair bet that buy-out firms will not be too far behind.

For the next few hours, cooks had to stir the cream and shake the ice.

The pressure to shake pennies out of small, local jails is even greater.

The potential evidence for early star birth may shake commonly held theories of galaxy formation.

One theory says mantas breach to shake off parasites.

Pour the mixture into a spray bottle, and then shake well.

Shake off excess liquid and place bread slices in frying pan.

Whatever the secret, their playing has graced the music of more reggae stars than you can shake a spliff.

It was a habit that he was never able to shake and it contributed to his early death.

As the motors move, they cause the cell walls to shake.

These smart whales were able to shake the fish from the line without injuring themselves.

Wash all greens thoroughly, shake dry, and tear into bite-size pieces.

Another problem may be that your pictures are soft because of camera shake.

Find more squid info than you can shake a tentacle at.

Shake to mix before serving on the side with the grilled steaks.

The man showed me how to scoop barley from a chest-high mound, then shake it so that the chaff fell through.

Shake the bottle gently to mix the food coloring with the oil and water.

We slap backs and shake hands and offer our weary thanks in a motley chorus of tongues.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

shake (ʃeɪk)

—vb (often foll by up) , shakes, shaking, shook, shaken
1.	to move or cause to move up and down or back and forth with short quick movements; vibrate
2.	to sway or totter or cause to sway or totter
3.	to clasp or grasp (the hand) of (a person) in greeting, agreement, etc: he shook John by the hand; he shook John's hand; they shook and were friends
4.	shake hands to clasp hands in greeting, agreement, etc
5.	informal shake on it to shake hands in agreement, reconciliation, etc
6.	to bring or come to a specified condition by or as if by shaking: he shook free and ran
7.	(tr) to wave or brandish: he shook his sword
8.	to rouse, stir, or agitate
9.	(tr) to shock, disturb, or upset: he was shaken by the news of her death
10.	(tr) to undermine or weaken: the crisis shook his faith
11.	to mix (dice) by rattling in a cup or the hand before throwing
12.	archaic, slang (Austral) (tr) to steal
13.	informal (US), (Canadian) (tr) to escape from: can you shake that detective?
14.	music to perform a trill on (a note)
15.	informal (US) (tr) to fare or progress; happen as specified: how's it shaking?
16.	informal shake a leg to hurry: usually used in the imperative
17.	shake in one's shoes to tremble with fear or apprehension
18.	shake one's head to indicate disagreement or disapproval by moving the head from side to side
19.	shake the dust from one's feet to depart gladly or with the intention not to return

—n
20.	the act or an instance of shaking
21.	a tremor or vibration
22.	informal the shakes a state of uncontrollable trembling or a condition that causes it, such as a fever
23.	informal a very short period of time; jiffy: in half a shake
24.	a shingle or clapboard made from a short log by splitting it radially
25.	a fissure or crack in timber or rock
26.	an instance of shaking dice before casting
27.	music another word for trill
28.	a dance, popular in the 1960s, in which the body is shaken convulsively in time to the beat
29.	an informal name for earthquake
30.	short for milk shake
31.	informal no great shakes of no great merit or value; ordinary

[Old English sceacan; related to Old Norse skaka to shake, Old High German untscachōn to be driven]

'shakable

—*adj*

'shakeable

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

shake

O.E. sceacan "to vibrate, make vibrate, move away" (class VI strong verb; past tense scoc, pp. scacen), from P.Gmc. *skakanan (cf. O.N., Swed. skaka, Dan. skage "to shift, turn, veer"). No certain cognates outside Gmc., but some suggest a possible connection to Skt. khaj "to agitate, churn, stir about,"

EXPAND

O.C.S. skoku "a leap, bound," Welsh ysgogi "move," and ult. to PIE *(s)keg-. To shake hands dates from 1535. Shaky "insecure, unreliable" (of credit, etc.) is from 1841. Shake a leg "hurry up" first recorded 1904; shake a heel (sometimes foot) was an old way to say "to dance" (1667). Phrase more _____ than you can shake a stick at is attested from 1818, Amer.Eng. To shake (one's) head as a sign of disapproval is recorded from c.1300. Shaken, of persons, "weakened and agitated by shocks" is from 1641.

shake

c.1380, from shake (v.). As a type of instantaneous action, it is recorded from 1816. Phrase fair shake "honest deal" is attested from 1830, Amer.Eng. The shakes "nervous agitation" is from 1624. Shakeout "business upheaval" is from 1895; shake-up "reorganization" is from

1899. Dismissive phrase no great shakes (1816) perhaps is from dicing.

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

shake definition

n.
a milkshake. (Colloquial or Standard English.) : I'd like a chocolate shake, please.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

shake (so) definition

tv.
to blackmail someone. (Underworld.) : The police chief was trying to shake down just about everybody in town.
tv.
to put pressure on someone to lend one money. : We tried to shake them down for a few hundred, but no deal.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

shake

In addition to the idioms beginning with shake, also see all shook (shaken) up; fair shake; in two shakes; more than one can shake a stick at; movers and shakers; no great shakes; quake (shake) in one's boots.

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