Shake

English Meaning

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.

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.
5. 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).
6. Slang To get rid of: couldn't shake the man who was following us.
7. To disturb or agitate; unnerve: She was shaken by the news of the disaster.
8. To brandish or wave, especially in anger: shake one's fist.
9. To clasp (hands) in greeting or leave-taking or as a sign of agreement.
10. Music To trill (a note).
11. Games To rattle and mix (dice) before casting.
12. To move to and fro in short, irregular, often jerky movements.
13. To tremble, as from cold or in anger.
14. To be unsteady; totter or waver.
15. To move something vigorously up and down or from side to side, as in mixing.
16. Music To trill.
17. To shake hands: Let's shake on it.
18. The act of shaking.
19. A trembling or quivering movement.
20. Informal An earthquake.
21. A fissure in rock.
22. A crack in timber caused by wind or frost.
23. Informal A moment or instant; a trice: I'll do it in a shake.
24. Music A trill.
25. See milk shake.
26. A beverage in which the ingredients are mixed by shaking.
27. A rough shingle used to cover rustic buildings, such as barns: cedar shakes.
28. Informal 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.
29. Slang A bargain or deal: getting a fair shake.
30. shake down Slang To extort money from.
31. shake down Slang To make a thorough search of: shook down the prisoners' cells for hidden weapons.
32. shake down To subject (a new ship or aircraft) to shakedown testing.
33. shake down To become acclimated or accustomed, as to a new environment or a new job.
34. shake off To free oneself of; get rid of: We shook off our fears.
35. shake up To upset by or as if by a physical jolt or shock: was badly shaken up by the accident.
36. shake up To subject to a drastic rearrangement or reorganization: new management bent on shaking up the company.
37. give (someone) the shake Slang To escape from or get rid of: We managed to give our pursuers the shake.
38. no great shakes Slang Unexceptional; ordinary: "stepping in between the victim and the bully, even when the victim happens to be no great shakes” ( Louis Auchincloss).
39. shake a leg Informal To dance.
40. shake a leg Informal To move quickly; hurry up.
41. shake (another's) tree Slang 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).
42. shake a stick at Slang 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).