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

See Examples For:

shake off

Perhaps best of all: The movie has a gritty, charming meanness to it; a stickiness that’s hard to shake off.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

We just have to shake off a little rust first.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

Antonelli tried again into the first corner and had to back off, but now Russell could not shake off his team-mate.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

But it struggled to shake off a sense of fragility.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

Nigeria became where she was supposed to be, the only place she could sink her roots in without the constant urge to tug them out and shake off the soil.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie