Shakers

British  

/ ˈʃeɪkəz /

plural noun

1. an American millenarian sect, founded in 1747 as an offshoot of the Quakers, given to ecstatic shaking, advocating celibacy for its members, and practising common ownership of property

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Shakers Cultural  

1. A religious group that rose in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Shakers derived their name from a dance that was part of their religious ceremony. They lived in small, tightly knit communities and observed celibacy.

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Shaker furniture is renowned for its simplicity, strength, and beauty.

Example Sentences

Intricate group choreography finds the Shakers swaying and stretching in tandem as if their hands were reaching up to pull God closer to Earth — or the congregation closer to Heaven.

From Salon

They also exhibit a rare respect for women, believing that “God must be both male and female,” and are a precursor to the group Ann herself will come to lead, known simply as the Shakers.

From The Wall Street Journal

If the Shakers have a lasting cultural legacy, it is their music — most famously “Simple Gifts,” the uplifting spiritual Aaron Copland immortalized in his ballet “Appalachian Spring.”

From Los Angeles Times

Mona Fastvold, who explores the life of the founder of the religious movement known as the Shakers in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” likes the center a little farther back.

From Los Angeles Times

In later scenes, when the Shakers are established and actively recruiting in America, the worshipers march in straight lines and concentric circles, all while lightly tapping their shoulders, crossing their arms and looking straight ahead.

From Los Angeles Times