shook
1 Americannoun
-
a set of staves and headings sufficient for one hogshead, barrel, or the like.
-
a set of the parts of a box, piece of furniture, or the like, ready to be put together.
-
a shock of sheaves or the like.
noun
-
(in timber working) a set of parts ready for assembly, esp of a barrel
-
a group of sheaves piled together on end; shock
verb
adjective
Usage
What else does shook mean? Shook is the past tense form of shake, used as a slang term to describe feelings ranging from discombobulation and fear to rage and elation, kind of like "all shaken up."
Etymology
Origin of shook1
First recorded in 1890–95, for the adjective
Origin of shook2
First recorded in 1760–70; short for shook cask, variant of shaken cask, one dismounted for shipment
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It’s bad enough when some kid goes to college for a year to get a basketball contract and then drops out,” says William E. Vita, a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025
Nair's great-grandson Raghu Palat, who co-wrote the book The Case That Shook the Empire, with his wife Pushpa, says the case helped spark "an uproar for the freedom movement".
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2025
River Shook warned their father: If the family left western New York for North Carolina, something awful would happen.
From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2024
In June, former servers at Jon & Vinny’s, a hip Italian American restaurant, filed a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the restaurants’ owners, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2024
Shook his leg like his toe was being electrocuted.
From "Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
