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Shake   /ʃeɪk/   Listen
verb
Shake  v. t.  (past shook; past part. shaken, obs. shook; pres. part. shaking)  
1.
To cause to move with quick or violent vibrations; to move rapidly one way and the other; to make to tremble or shiver; to agitate. "As a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." "Ascend my chariot; guide the rapid wheels That shake heaven's basis."
2.
Fig.: To move from firmness; to weaken the stability of; to cause to waver; to impair the resolution of. "When his doctrines grew too strong to be shook by his enemies, they persecuted his reputation." "Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced."
3.
(Mus.) To give a tremulous tone to; to trill; as, to shake a note in music.
4.
To move or remove by agitating; to throw off by a jolting or vibrating motion; to rid one's self of; generally with an adverb, as off, out, etc.; as, to shake fruit down from a tree. "Shake off the golden slumber of repose." "'Tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age." "I could scarcely shake him out of my company."
To shake a cask (Naut.), to knock a cask to pieces and pack the staves.
To shake hands, to perform the customary act of civility by clasping and moving hands, as an expression of greeting, farewell, good will, agreement, etc.
To shake out a reef (Naut.), to untile the reef points and spread more canvas.
To shake the bells. See under Bell.
To shake the sails (Naut.), to luff up in the wind, causing the sails to shiver.


Shake  v. i.  (past shook; past part. shaken, obs. shook; pres. part. shaking)  To be agitated with a waving or vibratory motion; to tremble; to shiver; to quake; to totter. "Under his burning wheels The steadfast empyrean shook throughout, All but the throne itself of God." "What danger? Who 's that that shakes behind there?"
Shaking piece, a name given by butchers to the piece of beef cut from the under side of the neck.


Shake  v.  Obs. p. p. of Shake.


noun
Shake  n.  
1.
The act or result of shaking; a vacillating or wavering motion; a rapid motion one way and other; a trembling, quaking, or shivering; agitation. "The great soldier's honor was composed Of thicker stuff, which could endure a shake." "Our salutations were very hearty on both sides, consisting of many kind shakes of the hand."
2.
A fissure or crack in timber, caused by its being dried too suddenly.
3.
A fissure in rock or earth.
4.
(Mus.) A rapid alternation of a principal tone with another represented on the next degree of the staff above or below it; a trill.
5.
(Naut.) One of the staves of a hogshead or barrel taken apart.
6.
A shook of staves and headings.
7.
(Zool.) The redshank; so called from the nodding of its head while on the ground. (Prov. Eng.)
No great shakes, of no great importance. (Slang)
The shakes, the fever and ague. (Colloq. U.S.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Shake" Quotes from Famous Books



... a shake of the head remarked that the application had gone up two weeks previously from Brigade Head-quarters, and that nothing had been heard of it since. "As usual," he added, ...
— Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals - As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac • William H. Armstrong
... hollow in front. If this does not answer, go where two or more roads meet and watch for the first big ant that is going home loaded; lay hold of it and place it in a brass tube; stop up the end of the tube with lead, putting as many seals upon it as possible; then shake it, saying the while, "My load be upon thee, and thine upon me." To this Rav Acha, the son of Rav Hunna, objected to Rav Ashi, and asked, "Might not the ant have been already laden with another man's fever?" "True," observed the other; "nevertheless let him say, 'My load ...
— Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and - Kabbala • Various
... said Mary, "that I have driven the poor thing away from that place; I was always afraid she would shake that great ugly stone ...
— The Parent's Assistant • Maria Edgeworth
... Fates and Constitution will vouchsafe to us the blessing Of a House of Representatives completely deaf and dumb; Or if, perhaps, in exile these noisy mischief-makers, The stream of elocution run most fortunately dry, In seats of legislation, rows of ruminating Quakers May shake their heads for "Nay" and may nod their heads for "Aye." Rap! rap! rap! To quell the rising clamor; Order! order! order! ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 8, May 21, 1870 • Various
... adviser—a tie that continued for forty years and was only sundered by death. Cecil was afterwards made Lord Burghley, and the confidence thus first reposed in him within the hall that was afterwards to become the home of his descendants was most remarkable. "No arts," writes Lord Macaulay, "could shake the confidence which she reposed in her old and trusty servant. The courtly graces of Leicester, the brilliant talents and accomplishments of Essex, touched the fancy, perhaps the heart, of the woman, but no rival could deprive the treasurer ...
— England, Picturesque and Descriptive - A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel • Joel Cook


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