1. To cause to move to and fro with jerky movements. 2. To cause to quiver, tremble, vibrate, or rock. 3. To cause to lose stability or waver: a crisis that shook my deepest beliefs.4. To remove or dislodge by jerky movements: shook the dust from the cushions.5a. To bring to a specified condition by or as if by shaking: “It is not easy to shake one's heart free of the impression” (John Middleton Murry). b.Slang To get rid of: couldn't shake the man who was following us.6. To disturb or agitate; unnerve: She was shaken by the news of the disaster.7. To brandish or wave, especially in anger: shake one's fist.8. To clasp (hands) in greeting or leave-taking or as a sign of agreement. 9.Music To trill (a note). 10.Games To rattle and mix (dice) before casting.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To move to and fro in short, irregular, often jerky movements. 2. To tremble, as from cold or in anger. 3. To be unsteady; totter or waver. 4. To move something vigorously up and down or from side to side, as in mixing. 5.Music To trill. 6. To shake hands: Let's shake on it.
NOUN:
1. The act of shaking. 2. A trembling or quivering movement. 3.Informal An earthquake. 4a. A fissure in rock. b. A crack in timber caused by wind or frost. 5.Informal A moment or instant; a trice: I'll do it in a shake.6.Music A trill. 7a. See milk shake (sense 1). b. A beverage in which the ingredients are mixed by shaking. 8. A rough shingle used to cover rustic buildings, such as barns: cedar shakes.9.shakesInformal Uncontrollable trembling, as in a person who is cold, frightened, feverish, or ill. Often used with the:was suffering from a bad case of the shakes.10.Slang A bargain or deal: getting a fair shake.
PHRASAL VERBS:
shake down1.Slang To extort money from. 2.Slang To make a thorough search of: shook down the prisoners' cells for hidden weapons.3. To subject (a new ship or aircraft) to shakedown testing. 4. To become acclimated or accustomed, as to a new environment or a new job. shake off To free oneself of; get rid of: We shook off our fears.shake up1. To upset by or as if by a physical jolt or shock: was badly shaken up by the accident.2. To subject to a drastic rearrangement or reorganization: new management bent on shaking up the company.
IDIOMS:
give (someone) the shakeSlang To escape from or get rid of: We managed to give our pursuers the shake.no great shakesSlang Unexceptional; ordinary: “stepping in between the victim and the bully, even when the victim happens to be no great shakes” (Louis Auchincloss).shake a legInformal1. To dance. 2. To move quickly; hurry up. shake (another's) treeSlang To arouse to action or reaction; disturb: “[He] so shook Hollywood's tree that . . . all manner of . . . people called me unsolicited to itemize his mistakes or praise his courage” (Tina Brown).shake a stick atSlang To point out, designate, or name: “All of a sudden there came into being a vast conservative infrastructure: think-tanks . . . and more foundations than you could shake a stick at” (National Review).
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English schaken, from Old English sceacan.
OTHER FORMS:
shaka·ble, shakea·ble —ADJECTIVE
SYNONYMS:
shake, tremble, quake, quiver1, shiver1, shudder These verbs mean to manifest involuntary vibratory movement. Shake is the most general: The floor shook when I walked heavily across the room.Tremble implies quick, rather slight movement, as from excitement, weakness, or anger: The speaker trembled as he denounced his opponents.Quake refers to more violent movement, as that caused by shock or upheaval: I was so scared that my legs began to quake.Quiver suggests a slight, rapid, tremulous movement: “Her lip quivered like that of a child about to cry” (Booth Tarkington). Shiver involves rapid trembling, as of a person experiencing chill: “as I in hoary winter night stood shivering in the snow” (Robert Southwell). Shudder applies chiefly to convulsive shaking caused by fear, horror, or revulsion: “She starts like one that spies an adder/ . . . The fear whereof doth make him shake and shudder” (Shakespeare).See also synonyms at agitate, dismay.
sh
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k), shak·en ( 
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n), shak·ing, shakes
