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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



... such ornament and illustration as suit the actions and manners treated of, yet disclaims not all likelihood of truth, seeing the force of imitation, in order to the persuading of men, lies in probability. Wherefore such imitation as does not altogether shake hands with truth carries along with it certain signs of virtue and vice mixed together in the actions which it doth represent. And of this nature is Homer's poetry, which totally bids adieu to Stoicism, the principles whereof will not admit any vice ...
— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch
... 'You can't get in here. This beach is for millionaires.' I'm blest if I don't shake the sand off my feet as soon as I can pack up ...
— Lady Betty Across the Water • Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson
... Irish. At the same time they cast many glances in my direction. For a minute, perhaps, they spoke among themselves thus; then the man I had addressed faced 'round at me and said something. By the expression of his face I guessed that he, in turn, was questioning me; but now I had to shake my head, and indicate that I did not comprehend what it was they wanted to know; and so we stood looking at one another, until I heard Tonnison calling to me to hurry up with the kettle. Then, with a smile and a nod, ...
— The House on the Borderland • William Hope Hodgson
... white hand my own. But, with a smile of sweet surprise, She turned to me her dreamy eyes; And slowly, as if life were pain, She drew me in her arms to lie: She strove to speak, and strove in vain; Each breath was like a long-drawn sigh. The throbs that seemed to shake her breast, The trembling clasp, so loose and weak, At last grew calmer, and at rest; And then she strove once more to speak: "My God, I thank thee, that my pain Of day by day and year by year, Has not been suffered all in vain, And I may die while he is near. I will not ...
— Legends and Lyrics: First Series • Adelaide Anne Procter
... work, both because he was more at home in it and because it was more spectacular. He relished the bigger cases. He liked to step in where an underling had failed, get his teeth into the situation, shake the mystery out of it, and then obliterate the underling with a half hour of blasphemous abuse. He had scant patience with what he called the "high-collar cops." He consistently opposed the new-fangled methods, such as the Portrait Parle, ...
— Never-Fail Blake • Arthur Stringer


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