shake
Americanverb (used without object)
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shakes,
present (3rd person singular)
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shook,
past
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shaken,
past participle
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shaking
present participle
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to move or sway with short, quick, irregular vibratory movements.
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to tremble with emotion, cold, etc.
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to become dislodged and fall (usually followed by off ordown ).
Sand shakes off easily.
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to move something, or its support or container, briskly to and fro or up and down, as in mixing.
Shake before using.
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to totter; become unsteady.
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to clasp another's hand in greeting, agreement, congratulations, etc..
Let's shake and be friends again.
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Music. to execute a trill.
verb (used with object)
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shakes,
present (3rd person singular)
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shook,
past
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shaken,
past participle
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shaking
present participle
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to move (something or its support or container) to and fro or up and down with short, quick, forcible movements.
to shake a bottle of milk.
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to brandish or flourish.
to shake a stick at someone.
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to grasp (someone or something) firmly in an attempt to move or rouse by, or as by, vigorous movement to and fro.
We shook the tree.
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to dislodge or dispense (something) by short, quick, forcible movements of its support or container.
We shook nuts from the tree.
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to cause to sway, rock, totter, etc..
to shake the very foundations of society.
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to agitate or disturb profoundly in feeling.
The experience shook him badly.
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to cause to doubt or waver; weaken.
to shake one's self-esteem.
- Synonyms:
- daunt
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Music. to trill (a note).
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to mix (dice) by rolling in the palm of the hand before they are cast.
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to get rid of; elude.
They tried to shake their pursuers.
noun
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shakes
plural
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an act or instance of shaking, rocking, swaying, etc.
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tremulous motion.
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a tremor.
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Informal. (the) shakes. a state or spell of trembling, as caused by fear, fever, cold, etc..
I was up all night with a fever and the shakes.
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a disturbing blow; shock.
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Informal. milkshake.
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the act or a manner of clasping another's hand in greeting, agreement, etc..
He has a strong shake.
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Informal. chance or treatment; deal.
a fair shake;
a bum shake.
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a cast of the dice.
He threw an eight on his last shake.
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something resulting from shaking.
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an earthquake.
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a fissure in the earth.
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an internal crack or fissure in timber.
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Music. trill.
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an instant.
I'll be with you in a shake.
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Carpentry. a shingle or clapboard formed by splitting a short log into a number of tapered radial sections with a hatchet.
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Horology. (in an escapement) the distance between the nearer corner of one pallet and the nearest tooth of the escape wheel when the other pallet arrests an escape tooth.
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Chiefly South Midland U.S. shaker.
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a dance deriving from the twist.
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Slang. the dried leaves of the marijuana plant.
verb phrase
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shake down
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to cause to descend by shaking; bring down.
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to cause to settle.
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to condition; test.
to shake down a ship.
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Informal. to extort money from.
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Slang. to search (someone), especially to detect concealed weapons.
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shake up
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to shake in order to mix or loosen.
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to upset; jar.
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to agitate mentally or physically.
The threat of attack has shaken up the entire country.
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shake off
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to rid oneself of; reject.
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to get away from; leave behind.
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Baseball, Softball. (of a pitcher) to indicate rejection of (a sign by the catcher for a certain pitch) by shaking the head or motioning with the glove.
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idioms
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shake hands. hand.
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shake the dust from one's feet. dust.
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two shakes (of a lamb's tail), a very short time; a moment.
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shake one's head,
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to indicate disapproval, disagreement, negation, or uncertainty by turning one's head from one side to the other and back.
I asked him if he knew the answer, but he just shook his head.
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to indicate approval, agreement, affirmation or acceptance by nodding one's head up and down.
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no great shakes, of no particular ability; unimportant; common.
As opera companies go, this one is no great shakes.
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shake a leg,
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to hurry up; get a move on.
You'd better shake a leg or we'll miss the first act.
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to dance.
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verb
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to move or cause to move up and down or back and forth with short quick movements; vibrate
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to sway or totter or cause to sway or totter
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to clasp or grasp (the hand) of (a person) in greeting, agreement, etc
he shook John by the hand
he shook John's hand
they shook and were friends
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to clasp hands in greeting, agreement, etc
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informal to shake hands in agreement, reconciliation, etc
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to bring or come to a specified condition by or as if by shaking
he shook free and ran
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(tr) to wave or brandish
he shook his sword
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to rouse, stir, or agitate
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(tr) to shock, disturb, or upset
he was shaken by the news of her death
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(tr) to undermine or weaken
the crisis shook his faith
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to mix (dice) by rattling in a cup or the hand before throwing
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archaic (tr) to steal
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informal (tr) to escape from
can you shake that detective?
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music to perform a trill on (a note)
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informal (tr) to fare or progress; happen as specified
how's it shaking?
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informal to hurry: usually used in the imperative
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to tremble with fear or apprehension
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to indicate disagreement or disapproval by moving the head from side to side
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to depart gladly or with the intention not to return
noun
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the act or an instance of shaking
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a tremor or vibration
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informal a state of uncontrollable trembling or a condition that causes it, such as a fever
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informal a very short period of time; jiffy
in half a shake
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a shingle or clapboard made from a short log by splitting it radially
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a fissure or crack in timber or rock
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an instance of shaking dice before casting
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music another word for trill 1
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a dance, popular in the 1960s, in which the body is shaken convulsively in time to the beat
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an informal name for earthquake
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short for milk shake
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informal of no great merit or value; ordinary
Synonym Usage
Shake, quiver, tremble, vibrate refer to an agitated movement that, in living things, is often involuntary. To shake is to agitate more or less quickly, abruptly, and often unevenly so as to disturb the poise, stability, or equilibrium of a person or thing: a pole shaking under his weight. To quiver is to exhibit a slight vibratory motion such as that resulting from disturbed or irregular (surface) tension: The surface of the pool quivered in the breeze. To tremble (used more often of a person) is to be agitated by intermittent, involuntary movements of the muscles, much like shivering and caused by fear, cold, weakness, great emotion, etc.: Even stout hearts tremble with dismay. To vibrate is to exhibit a rapid, rhythmical motion: A violin string vibrates when a bow is drawn across it.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reshakeverb
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shakableadjective
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shakeableadjective
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unshakableadjective
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unshakeableadjective
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unshakenadjective
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well-shakenadjective
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unshakablelyadverb
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unshakeablelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shakesimple
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shakessimple
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have shakenperfect
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has shakenperfect
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am shakingprogressive
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are shakingprogressive
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is shakingprogressive
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have been shakingperfect progressive
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has been shakingperfect progressive
Past
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shooksimple
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had shakenperfect
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was shakingprogressive
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were shakingprogressive
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had been shakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shake
First recorded before before 900; Middle English (verb) s(c)haken, Old English sceacan; cognate with Low German schacken, Old Norse skaka; the noun is derived from the verb
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.
See Examples For:
"Suddenly it started to shake and I panicked," 31-year-old hospital customer service official and Maumere resident, Lukas Lotar, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
A few club members who relocated to South Florida or spend time there lined up to shake Bezos’ hand, including real-estate magnate Richard LeFrak and businessman Eddie Lampert.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Some price-sensitive consumers who are traveling this summer likely panic-bought their tickets when conflict between the U.S. and Iran began to shake global oil markets in late February, travel experts say.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
From the jump, it’s hard to shake the feeling that “Tony” is mistakenly aligning itself with the public’s idea of Bourdain rather than the man’s reality.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Wolf righted himself with a shake and leapt for the pouch, catching it in mid-air, but landing perilously close to the edge of the ravine.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Red pepper flakes and everything bagel seasoning cover the remaining territory — heat, funk, nuttiness, crunch — in a few economical shakes.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Rescuers were able to insert tubes to provide water, hydration fluids, protein shakes and medicine to Gil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
Protein shakes may soon become easier to enjoy thanks to new research showing that changes in whey protein production can improve both taste and texture.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026
Haiti were no great shakes but they were getting on top.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
In response, the little girl shakes the newspaper in front of my face.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Dan shook his head, as if he himself couldn’t believe it, even though he had presumably been there.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
A magnitude 3.8 earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay Area Thursday morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Roosevelt’s campaign shook the system, earning 88 electoral votes and dooming Taft’s reelection campaign in favor of the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Newly-released security camera footage shows the moment last month's magnitude 6.8 quake shook Kumamoto General Hospital in Japan.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Whose hands shook out that sack into the desk drawer?
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
England boss Steve Borthwick has shaken up his centrally contracted squad with just over a year to go until the Rugby World Cup.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
While the whole family were "shaken and upset for the boys" she has become angry after hearing that this was "not an isolated event".
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
A string of aftershocks have shaken the area since the initial quake, further rattling locals in stifling summer temperatures, forecast to hit at least 35C later in the day and a heatstroke warning issued.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
The former securities regulator and federal prosecutor succeeds Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month, and inherits an 18-agency intelligence community shaken by leadership turnover and staff cuts.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The rich food filled her with elation, but she was too shaken by the presence of the leopard to make up a victory poem.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura village, Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, told the BBC that he was still asleep when he felt the "very strong shaking".
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Yohanes Babo, 56, a resident of Nagekeo, said he was at a market when the earth started shaking in the early morning hours.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Oil, hunters and Dr. Phil: How a long-shot project is shaking Up Greenland.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Better yet, when Olin and Slone first met, it was shaking hands on stage at the Echoplex before the band’s first show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
It clatters against the saucer and I notice her hand is shaking.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
