all shook up

Idioms  

1. Greatly disturbed or upset, as in His letter left her all shook up. This slangy idiom uses shook instead of the grammatically correct “shaken” (for “agitated”) and adds all for emphasis. [Second half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

all shook up

If you think of late-career Elvis Presley as only a plump and gaudy Las Vegas crooner slinging schlock in the 1970s, you’re about to get all shook up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026

The Troubadour Theater Company returns to the Getty Villa for ‘Oedipus the King, Mama!,’ a mashup of Elvis and Sophocles that’s all shook up.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025

It’s now or never for this week’s Slate News Quiz, but don’t get all shook up.

From Slate ● May 24, 2024

“We’re all shook up by this event,” resident Reyna Diaz, 67, said through tears.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 24, 2023

Now that there was some good proof against him he was all shook up.

From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis

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