Shake Definition

shāk

shaken, shakes, shaking, shook

verb

shaken, shakes, shaking, shook

To cause to move up and down, back and forth, or from side to side with short, quick movements.

Webster's New World

To become unsteady; totter; reel.

Webster's New World

To cause to quiver or tremble.

Chills that shook his body.

Webster's New World

To cause to lose stability or strength, as of conviction.

A crisis that has shaken my deepest beliefs.

American Heritage

To bring, force, mix, stir up, dislodge, rearrange, etc. by or as by abrupt, brisk movements.

To shake a medicine before taking it.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

noun

An act of shaking; back-and-forth movement.

Webster's New World

An unsteady or trembling movement; tremor.

Webster's New World

A natural split or fissure in rock or timber.

Webster's New World

An earthquake.

Webster's New World

A long, rough-hewn shingle split from a log.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

idiom

give (someone) the shake

To escape from or get rid of:
We managed to give our pursuers the shake.

American Heritage

no great shakes

Unexceptional; ordinary:

American Heritage

shake a leg

To dance.
To move quickly; hurry up.

American Heritage

shake (someone's) tree

To arouse to action or reaction; disturb:

American Heritage

shake a stick at

To point out, designate, or name:

American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Shake

Noun

Singular:

shake

Plural:

shakes

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Shake

give (someone) the shake
no great shakes
shake a leg
shake (someone's) tree
shake a stick at
give someone (or something) the shake
no great shakes
shake down
shake hands
shake off
shake up

Origin of Shake

From Middle English schaken, from Old English sceacan, scacan (“to shake"). from Proto-Germanic *skakanÄ… (“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 (skakatʹ, “to jump"). More at shock.

From Wiktionary
Middle English schaken from Old English sceacan

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition