shake off

British  

verb

1. to remove or be removed with or as if with a quick movement

   she shook off her depression

2. (tr) to escape from; elude

   they shook off the police

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shake off Idioms  

1. Free oneself or get rid of something or someone, as in I've had a hard time shaking off this cold, or She forged ahead, shaking off all the other runners. It is also put as give someone the shake, as in We managed to give our pursuers the shake. The first term dates from the late 1300s; the slangy variant dates from the second half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Every artist is expected to either shake off or renovate convention.

From Los Angeles Times

“We seek a new revolution,” he said, “not less important, perhaps, in its consequences than that of 1776—a revolution in letters; a shaking off of the fetters of the mind.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Not even a year into his second five-year term, Macron has failed to shake off his image among voters as an aloof CEO of a rarefied elite deaf to the common people's concerns.

From Reuters

But Unboxed never managed to shake off its initial unofficial nickname, the Festival of Brexit.

From BBC

Did Gore shake off a bumpy first inning and grind through six?

From Washington Post