| 释义 |
▪ I. shake, n.1|ʃeɪk|
Also 4 schak, 5 schakke, 8–9 shack.
[f. shake v.]
†I. 1. a. With prefixed adj., as advb. cognate obj. to shake vb., or other vbs. of motion, a good, great, etc. shake: quickly, with headlong speed.
13..K. Alis. 232 Away he rod from heom god schak. 13..Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXI. 84/72 And aftur þei schoken a ful gret schak. c1475Hunt. Hare 96 Thei wente a nobull schakke.
†b. A charge (of men in battle), onrush. (Cf. shock n.) Obs.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 2663 So þat þe furste schak was ouer⁓come of hure enymys. a1400Morte Arth. 1759 The Bretons..Schokkes in with a schakke, and schontez no langere.
II. The action or an act of shaking.
2. a. An act of shaking a person or thing.
1581A. Hall Iliad iv. 72 And as down leaped he, His gay and gorgeous armor rich so sounded in the shake. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 2 The dogge..pinch'd him in the eye, with so terrible a shake, that the Lion..was constrained to forsake himselfe. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 172 Sometimes it happens that by a Shake..the Metal may spill. 1715Addison Freeholder No. 1 ⁋5 Blossoms, that would fall away with every shake of wind. 1764E. Moxon Eng. Housew. (ed. 9) 138 Give them a shake together before you lie in your eggs. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Amicus Rediv., It seemed to have given a shake to memory, calling up notice after notice of [etc.]. 1845Poe Purloined Let. Tales 206 We turned over every leaf in each volume, not contenting ourselves with a mere shake.
b. (Usually in full a shake of the hand.) An act of shaking hands or a person's hand, a handshake. (See shake v.)
1712Addison Spect. No. 269 ⁋5 Our Salutations..consisting of many kind Shakes of the Hand. 1820L. Hunt Indicator No. 40 I. 315 The shake [was] as close, as long, and as rejoicing, as if the semi-unknown was a friend come home from the Desarts. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert vii. 75 Jim Sinclair gave her hand a very British shake.
c. shake of the head: see shake v. 6 b.
1713J. Hughes in J. Duncombe Lett. (1772) I. 74, I may have called a man a knave by a shake of the head and a shrug of the shoulders. 1779Sheridan Critic iii. i, Puff. Why, by that shake of the head, he [Ld. Burleigh] gave you to understand that [etc.]. 1848Dickens Dombey l, Captain Cuttle observed with a shake of his head, that Jack Bunsby himself hadn't made it out. 1889Parnell in R. B. O'Brien Life (1898) II. 228 Is there any one of them who..sitting in his place, by a shake of the head, or a nod, or a word, will venture to say that [etc.]?
d. An act of shaking oneself. Also fig.
1712–14Pope Rape Lock i. 15 Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake. 1726W. Penn Tracts Wks. I. 490 Having given my self a loose shake of the Calumnies of his first Section. 1830Blackw. Mag. XXVIII. 596 That long shake [of a dog] that bedrizzled the sunshine. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, The speaker got up from a bench on which he had been lying unobserved, and gave himself a shake.
e. dial. The shaking out of corn from the ear. Also in Comb. shake-time. Cf. shack n.1
1668Worlidge Dict. Rust., Shake-time, the season of the year that Mast and such Fruits fall from Trees. 1786Har'st Rig vi, And aye they tell, that ‘a green shear Is an ill shake.’ 1899Cumbld. Gloss. s.v. Shear, A green shear's as bad as a shak.
f. Paper-making.
1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 225/1 He..then gives the mould the ‘shake’, a gentle shake both along and across the mould. 1890A. Watt Paper-making xii. 131 He gives the mould a gentle shake from his chest forward and back again, which is called the fore-right shake; this shake takes place across the wires... He next gives a shake from right to left, and back again.
g. dial. A raffle.
1877E. Leigh Chesh. Gloss., Shake, a raffle. ‘My mon won the picture in a shake.’
h. colloq. or slang. Used as the type of instantaneous action, esp. in the phrases in a shake, in a brace or couple of shakes. Also, in three (or two) shakes of a sheep's (or lamb's) tail, (in) half a shake.
1816G. Muir Clydesdale Minstrelsy 98 (E.D.D.) In the shake of a hand I received my sight. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. St. Aloys, He'll be up at the church in a couple of shakes. 1841J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. xvi. 283 I'll just..run whome wi' un, and be back agin in a brace of shakes. 1858S. A. Hammett Piney Woods Tavern xxiv. 260 Out come my mare, and in a couple of shakes of a sheep's tail we was a doin' our three minits jest as fine as silk. Ibid. xxvi. 283 In hafe a shake Bingham broke through 'em. 1867G. W. Harris Sut Lovingood 113 Pat tuck me at my word, an' wer outen site in the shake ove a lamb's tail. 1883Stevenson Treasure Isl. xiii, ‘Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in two shakes. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xli. 414, I says to myself spos'n he can't fix that leg just in three shakes of a sheep's tail, as the saying is? spos'n it takes him three or four days? 1902E. Nesbit Five Children & It ii. 51 He'll be ready in a brace of shakes, he says. 1904E. Nesbit Phœnix & Carpet vii. 145 Wait a shake, and I'll undo the side gate. 1934N. Scanlan Tides of Youth 117 Half a shake—any more beer? 1936W. Greene Death in Deep South ii. 93 If you boys will just hold your horses, I'll have a statement for you. Harmon's typing it now. It'll be ready in a shake. 1958J. Wain Contenders xii. 265 In two shakes he's solved the problem. Or shaken it anyway. 1966Guardian 29 July 8/7 Then they are off again... I nearly wrote ‘in two shakes of a lamb's tail’. 1973E. Lemarchand Let or Hindrance xii. 140 I'll knock you up bacon and eggs in a brace of shakes.
i. a fair shake: a fair deal. Also, an even shake, a good shake, and opp., an unfair shake. U.S. slang.
1830Central Watchtower & Farmer's Jrnl. (Harrodsburg, Kentucky) 22 May 1/3 Says I, any way that will be a fair shake. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xxxi. 218 ‘That ain't a fair shake,’ cried the man excitedly. 1949E. B. White Let. 20 Nov. (1976) 315 The New Yorker disagrees with practically everything Boyer believes in... Nevertheless, it has given Boyer a fair shake. 1969L. G. Arthur in A. E. Wilkerson Rights of Children (1973) x. 124 What does the child receive in return:..just psychiatric screen, shiny tiled walls, and electronic listening. It doesn't seem an even shake! 1972Time 17 Apr. 33/1 The Administration took office..expecting an unfair shake. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xix. 243 What about the natives? They're not getting such a good shake. 1980in S. Terkel Amer. Dreams 341 I'd like to see an America where so much power was not in the hands of the few. Where everybody'd get a fair shake.
j. orig. Naut. An act of shaking a sleeper to rouse him. Also fig., a morning call.
1933P. A. Eaddy Hull Down 49 If I'm asleep give me a shake at eight bells. 1945‘Tackline’ Holiday Sailor iv. 47 A shake. Another shake. I peer muzzily down at Gordon's upturned face. ‘Quarter to four, Smiler, if you want any tea.’ ‘Uh? Oh, righto—thanks. I'll be up.’ 1979D. Gurr Troika vii. 43 The knocking intruded slowly into consciousness. The room was dark, although my shake was for six-thirty.
k. A party, esp. a rent party. U.S. slang.
1946[see percolator c]. 1956S. Longstreet Real Jazz Old & New xvi. 126 Depression came... You could always wrassel up a piano and get together to listen and charge a few coins and have a skiffle. Or, as some said, a rent party, or a shake. 1977Amer. Speech 1975 L. 65 Shake.., party. ‘There's a shake at Jim's house.’
3. a. Irregular vibratory or tremulous movement, esp. as the result of impact or disturbance of equilibrium; irregular lateral movement (of something revolving or moving in a line). Naut., a fluttering or shivering (of a sail).
1665Hooke Microgr. 12 The cause of fluidness..I conceive to be nothing else but a certain pulse or shake of heat. 1690Boyle Effects of Motion iii. 18 The Shake is first communicated by the Cannon to the earth or floor on which they play. 1764J. Ferguson Lect. 48 The bush must embrace the spindle quite close, to prevent any shake in the motion. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 663/2 A square box made to slide along this wooden trunk without shake. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 529 The earth must be struck with a rammer, and if found to shake, must be bored, to ascertain whether the shake be local or general. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 320 Diagonal braces..to resist the shake from the action of the wheel upon the pinion. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 223 The sail will come in without a shake. 1883Science I. 101/1 Care should be taken..that there is no ‘shake’ or lateral motion in the adjustments for focus. 1885Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iv. 328/2 See that the cannon pinion does not confine the shake of the centre wheel.
b. The shock of an earthquake. Now U.S. and N.Z.
1622W. Burton Leicestersh. 270 The bell in the Townehall at Denbigh knowled with the violence of the shake [of an earthquake]. 1731Gentl. Mag. I. 224 In that and some following Days they had no less than 50 Shakes. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. Introd. 3 It has been destroyed by the shake of an earthquake. 1845E. J. Wakefield Adventure in N.Z. II. xv. 368 The most severe earthquake occurred that I had yet felt... The natives..acknowledged that they had never experienced so bad a ru, or ‘shake’. 1907Westm. Gaz. 13 Apr. 3/2 That earthquake at San Francisco—the ‘shake’, as the local papers lightheartedly called it within a fortnight. 1929‘E. Milton’ Love & Chiffon 219 In good old New Zealand, you'd realize these shakes are mere nothings. 1948J. Courage in Landfall II. 298 The earthquake happened late..but the shake woke Mr Blakiston immediately. 1949Los Angeles Times 14 May 1/4 Newspaper and police switch⁓boards were flooded immediately with requests for information on the shake.
4. a. A shivering or trembling of the body or limbs; also, a state of tremor. the shakes, nervous agitation caused by fear or horror.
1624Fletcher Rule a Wife iv. i, I must stand to it stoutly, And show no shake of fear. 1837Lytton E. Maltrav. i. x, She was pale and agitated, or, as she expressed it, ‘had a terrible fit of the shakes’. 1851Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xvi, Her nerves were in a shake. 1966M. Woodhouse Tree Frog xii. 93 It was like getting the shakes on an exposed pitch of rock. 1976B. Bova Multiple Man xiii. 135 The sliding glass doors..were locked... So I sat around and waited, trying not to get the shakes.
b. An attack of a shaking disease. the shakes, a name popularly applied to any disease characterized by a trembling of the muscles and limbs, esp. delirium tremens.
dumb shakes, (U.S.) ? masked intermittent fever. hatters' shakes, a disease incident to some workers in hat-making.
1782F. Burney Diary 28 Dec., A man who has had two shakes of the palsy! 1838Penny Cycl. XI. 220/2 When ‘the shakes’ have taken possession of their unhappy victim [of mercury-poisoning]. 1856Olmsted Slave States 355 Even in the midst of a severe ‘shake’, they would generally insist that they were ‘well enough to dive’. 1867H. Latham Black & White 109 The Dismal Swamp is a first-rate place for concealment, if you are not afraid of shakes and agues. 1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. iii. ii. 640 The ‘dumb shakes’ of the Wabash Valley. 1884Cornhill Mag. June 616 An attack of delirium tremens, or, as she and her neighbours style it, a ‘fit of the shakes’. 1902Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Feb. 378 Muscular tremors (‘hatters' shakes’) are most often observed in those engaged in dusty post-carotting processes. 1927New Republic 9 Mar. 72/1 The following is a partial list of words denoting drunkenness now in common use in the United States..to have the shakes. 1947A. Marshall in Coast to Coast 1946 177 The longest bender I ever had was eight months. It took me three years to get over the shakes it gave me. 1977New Yorker 3 Oct. 40/1 Have you ever had the D.T.s? The shakes?
c. A tremor (in the voice).
1859Lever Dav. Dunn liv, If I'd have detected one line in your face, or one shake in your voice, like treachery.
d. A shaking movement in a dance; the Shake, a dance characterized by such movements.
1946[see bump n.1 1 f]. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) iv. 41 The Cotton Club—a place Negroes never saw inside unless they played music or did the shakes or shimmies. 1962Guardian 31 Dec. 5/1 The Madison threatens to become compulsory dancing; creeping up behind it come the Slop, the Shake, the Waddle,..the Bossa Nova. 1966[see jerk n.1 2 f].
5. Mus. (See quot. 1881.)
† close shake, open shake (see quot. 1674). Obs.
1659[see shaking stop s.v. shaking vbl. n.]. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. xi. 47 Trill, or plain shake. Ibid. 53 The Trill, or Shake of the Voice, being the most usual Grace. Ibid. ii. 104 The close Shake is when you stop with your first Finger on the first Fret, and shake with your second Finger as close to it as you can; the open Shake is when you stop with your first Finger on the first Fret, and shake with your third Finger on the third Fret. 1711[see quaver n. 2]. 1775F. Burney Early Diary Nov. (1889) II. 98 She has a very pretty shake, and sings very chastly, not with vile graces and trills. 1825Southey Paraguay iii. xl, And sometimes high the note was raised, and long Produced, with shake and effort sensible. 1881F. Taylor in Grove's Dict. Mus. III. 479 Shake or Trill..consists of the regular and rapid alternation of a given note with the note above,..continuing for the full duration of the written note... Immediately before the final note of a shake a new subsidiary note is introduced, one degree below the principal note. This and the concluding principal note together form what is called the turn of the shake.
6. a. A concussion or blow which impairs the stability of something; often fig. a damaging blow (e.g. to an institution, a state of things, a person's health); a shock (to the mind or nerves).
1565W. Allen Def. Purgatory xvii. 283 One of these ouer⁓throwers frameth..his negatiue argument, to the more sure shake of oure faithe herein after this sorte. 1673Temple Observ. United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 35 The States-General..consisted of about Eight Hundred Persons, whose meeting..gave too great a Shake to the whole Body of the Union. 1685Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Acts xxiv. 8–9 This is a great shake to the credit of most History. 1704Swift Tale Tub ix. 168 His Brain hath undergone an unlucky Shake. a1722Fountainhall Decis. (1759) I. 13 Being thought..a great shake to the security of men's lives and fortunes. 1862Spencer First Princ. i. i. §5 (1875) 18 The rude shakes which Science has given to many of their cherished convictions. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 44 He was the life of us before he had that shake, but it's only nerves.
b. to give (someone) a or the shake or the cold shake: to cold-shoulder, rebuff; evade, escape. U.S.
1875E. Eddy Let. 29 Oct. in J. F. Daly Life A. Daly (1917) xxv. 215, I desire to give the ‘Two Orphans’ a shake. 1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. iii. 33 None of them herded with Dick Allbright. They all give him the cold shake. 1930D. Runyon in Collier's 1 Feb. 13/3 Although I give her..all my affection, she will probably give me the shake. 1970N. Fleming Czech Point (1971) viii. 106 If these jokers want to tail us, they've damn well got to do it properly from behind. Overtake and give them the shake.
7. to be no great (some great, considerable, etc.) shakes: to be nothing (something, etc.) extraordinary in ability or importance.[Perh. alluding to shaking of dice.] [1816Ld. Broughton Recoll. (1865) II. 2 W. said that a piece of sculpture there was ‘nullae magnae quassationes’, and the others laughed heartily.] 1819Moore Tom Crib's Memor. (ed. 3) 41 Though no great shakes at learned chat. 1820Blackw. Mag. VIII. 89 Ten years ago, the young Whig was ‘non sordidus auctor’, considerable shakes; but now they are all asses. 1820Byron Let. to Murray 28 Sept. (1875) 733, I had my hands full, and my head too, just then [when he wrote ‘Marino Faliero’]; so it can be no great shakes. 1845Carlyle Cromwell (1850) II. 222 No great shakes at metre. 1876Browning Pacchiarotto, Shop xi, This article, no such great shakes, Fizzes like wild fire? 1894Cornhill Mag. June 564 Bannock can't hit a haystack at fifty yards, and I'm no great shakes. 1913D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers x. 266 You think you're terrific great shakes, and that you live under the eternal insult of working in a factory. 1939Sun (Baltimore) 8 Nov. 6/8 Women feel..that, no matter what poor shakes of wives they are, their husbands are blessed beyond their deserts in getting them. 1948G. H. Johnston Death takes small Bites vii. 159 He couldn't have been any great shakes as a driver because he didn't beat you by much. 1970H. McLeave Question of Negligence xxiii. 191 I'm no great shakes at this modern dancing. 1976Daily Mirror 18 Mar. 2/3 Sir Richard may not have been particularly great shakes. But he was never given much chance to show his paces.
8. In combination with adv. (subst. use of phrases: of shake v.: see also shake-down, -out). shake-up: an act of shaking up or being shaken up, or the result of this; a thorough or drastic change or rearrangement; a disturbing or unsettling experience.
1847J. S. Mill Lett. (1910) I. 131 To give that general shake-up to the torpid mind of the nation which the French Revolution gave to Continental Europe. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. ii, Tom gave the prisoner a shake-up, took away his list, and stood him up on the floor. 1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. xxxviii. 438 My nerves had hardly grown quiet after this affair when they got another shake-up,—one which utterly unmanned me for a moment. 1882National Police Gaz. 18 Nov. 7/2 (heading) The Union Square Company has a matrimonial shake-up all around. 1899R. H. Barbour Half-back vi. 59 There'll be a shake-up to-morrow... He's going to put Greer on the scrub to-morrow. 1903Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 7/1 The Board has had a healthy ‘shake-up’. 1912Contemp. Rev. Nov. 654 Indictments and bills in equity became the order of the day, and ‘probings’ and ‘shake-ups’ the common talk of business men. 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin xvi. 312 But, orl the same, Tubby boy, I reckons it's done us orl good ter 'ave a bit of a shake up like this 'ere [sc. a naval engagement]. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. i. 325, I can't see that this change has done you harm. Nor the shake-up either; you were getting too quiet. 1962E. Snow Red China Today (1963) xxii. 165 ‘Rectification’, self-criticism, retraining and restudy among party and nonparty cadres are followed by shake-ups which affect millions. 1967D. Pinner Ritual viii. 85 You didn't half give me a shake-up. 1969Listener 27 Mar. 410/2, I read that BBC radio is due for a programme shake-up. 1970‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iii. 35 It was sporting of your father to ask me. I can imagine what a shake-up it must have been, without taking me on as well. 1980Christian Sci. Monitor (Midwestern ed.) 4 Dec. 4/1 As a result of the latest shake-up, which occurred at the party meeting, the political balance has shifted away from the conservatives.
III. Something produced by shaking.
9. A natural cleft or fissure produced during growth or formation.
a. in timber.
For cup, heart, star, wind shake: see those words.
1651J. White Rich Cabinet (1677) 29 Get a streight piece of wood.., let it be free from knots, or shakes, then plain it. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Shakes,..the cracks or rents in a plank, occasioned by the sun or weather. 1851Rural Cycl. IV. 178 Shake, a disease in trees, consisting of long splits up the stem. 1894Times 31 Aug. 3/5 Yellow pine, without a single knot, shake, or other blemish in its whole surface.
b. in rock, mineral strata, etc.
water shake, one in which a stream empties itself.
1747Hooson Miner's Dict. L 2, The Shaft was Sunk in a great and loose Shack of Chirts. 1771E. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton I. 41 That same want of stability..like a shake in marble, runs thro' the whole block. 1802J. Mawe Mineral. Derbysh. iii. 38 In this limestone stratum are frequently found openings or caverns, which are commonly called shakes, or swallows. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 305 They..were as compact as when first moved by the plough, without even the appearance of a water shake or fissure. 1856Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVII. ii. 373 The more feeble springs that empty themselves..through some loose or porous soil, shakes in the rocks, or otherwise. 1893–4Northumberld. Gloss., Shake, a thickening or ‘belly’ in a vein of lead ore..or the cavity sometimes found in such places.
10. pl.
a. A set of barrel staves = shook n. U.S.
1820Scoresby Arct. Regions I. 207 note, Empty casks are..taken to pieces, and the staves closely packed up in a cylindrical form, constituting what are called shakes or packs. 1841Dana Seaman's Man. 122 Shakes, the staves of hogs⁓heads taken apart.
b. Pieces of split timber, a kind of shingles. Also sing. when attrib. or Comb. (see sense 13 below). Chiefly U.S.
1772Tillinghast & Holroyd Let. 23 Nov. in Commerce of Rhode Island (1914) I. 420 We herewith send you all the Shakes we can yet get in. 1845C. Mathews Writ. I. 164 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. s.v., A..house, shingled with what they call ‘shakes’ all over the West and Southwest. 1893Advance (Chicago) 16 Mar., By and by..shakes can be split for a roof, and fastened on. 1939I. Baird Waste Heritage xviii. 240 Weathered barns with the lichen growing on the shakes. 1964L. Linton Of Days & Driftwood ix. 51 The first place of worship was a very small building of shakes. 1977Tel. (Brisbane) 20 Dec. 36/5 Shakes are hand split and have a rustic appearance. 1982Times 26 Jan. 11/3 The design of these shakes was identical to that of the traditional oak shakes used in England for many centuries.
11. Printing. (See quot.)
1888Jacobi Printers' Voc., Shake, a slur on a printed sheet through some defect in the impression.
12. (See quot. 1911.)
1911Webster's Dict., Shake... Short for milk shake or egg shake, etc., beverages of milk, or milk and egg, flavored and shaken thoroughly. Colloq., U.S. 1948D. Ballantyne Cunninghams i. xxix. 146 You sat..sucking raspberry shakes through straws. 1953[see parfait]. 1966B. H. Deal Fancy's Knell iii. 44 ‘I'll have a burger too,’ the redhaired boy said. ‘And a shake.’ 1981J. D. MacDonald Free Fall in Crimson x. 114 She sucked up the shake.
IV.
13. attrib. and Comb. as (sense 10 b) shake cabin, shake house, shake roof, shake shanty; shake-maker; shake-sided adj.; shake-bog, a bog which shakes or quakes when trodden upon; shake culture, a culture (3 c) in which the organisms are distributed through the medium by a gentle shake; shake dancer slang (see quot. 1968); so (as a back-formation) shake dance; shake-hole (see quots.); shake music (see quot. 1942); shake wave = S wave s.v. S 6; shake willey, willow, a machine used in the preparation of cotton and wool (see quot.).
1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 599 That kind of bog called the *shake-bog.
1885L. W. Spring Kansas v. 64 Big Springs in the autumn of 1855 was a place of four or five *shake-cabins and log-huts. 1967M. Craven I heard Owl (1968) v. 36 Old Marta was there and the girl called Keetah, and the two small children.., come from the shake cabins to pick blueberries.
1894E. Klein in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 Oct. 799/1 It does not form gas bubbles in gelatine *shake cultures.
1968J. Lock Lady Policeman xi. 102, Her daughter..did bare-breasted *shake dances.
1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) x. 98 A *shake dancer with her pimp. 1968J. Lock Lady Policeman xi. 102, I was..assigned..to the women entertainers. They were known as ‘shake dancers’... The art consisted of shaking bare or almost bare breasts to music. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 2 Oct. 21/5 She becomes a shake-dancer and B-girl.
1823Buckland Reliq. Diluv. 6 note, Open fissures, locally called *shake-holes, or swallow-holes, from their swallowing up the streams that cross the limestone districts. 1828[Carr] Craven Gloss., Shack-hole, a hollow in the ground, resembling a funnel, which receives the surface water.
1857Lawrence (Kansas) Republican 9 July 3 You are always welcome to his log or *shake house.
1901J. Muir Our National Parks ix. 298, I found many *shake-makers at work in it, access to these magnificent woods having been made easy by the old mill wagon road.
1935*Shake music [see jungle n. 3 c]. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §579/1 Syncopated music; jazz... Shake music, a savage style similar to ‘jungle music’.
1947Michigan Hist. June 178 It was a small log cabin with a *shake roof. 1978J. Hyams Pool vi. 68 It had..a steep moss-covered shake roof that turned green in the rain.
1879Atlantic Monthly Aug. 154/1 Every one of the frail *shake shanties is a centre of destruction.
1970J. Hansen Fadeout i. 8 The overhang of a *shake-sided cabana.
[1929H. Jeffreys Earth (ed. 2) vi. 86 The type (9) are called the longitudinal, irrotational, condensational, primary, or P waves; (10) and (11) the transverse, distortional, equivoluminal, secondary, or S waves. Prof. H. H. Turner has very appropriately called them the ‘push’ and the ‘shake’.] 1944A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. xvii. 369 The S or ‘*shake’ waves are distortional waves, in which each particle vibrates at right angles to the direction of propagation. 1969Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 12 Seismic records obtained so far from the landing site show the absence of the so-called ‘shake-waves’.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Shake-willy (Cotton-manufacture), a willy or willowing machine for cleaning cotton, preparatory to carding. 1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning 181 In order..to shake loose any matted pieces, the wool is usually passed through a shake willey or willow.
▪ II. shake, n.2 slang and dial.|ʃeɪk|
[Short for shake-rag. (Cf. shack n.2)]
A disreputable person.
1846Swell's Night Guide 36 Many of the Haymarket shakes frequent this lumber. 1859Hotten's Slang Dict., Shake, a disreputable man or woman. North.
▪ III. shake, v.|ʃeɪk|
Pa. tense shook |ʃʊk|; pa. pple. shaken |ˈʃeɪk(ə)n|. Forms: inf. 1 sceacan, scacan, 3 sceki, sceky, sake, scheken, schek(e, 3–4 scake, ssake, schak(e, sshake, (4 schac, scha(a)k, s(c)haken, 5 schakyn), 4–6 schake, 6 Sc. scha(i)k, 8–9 Sc. and dial. shack, 4– shake. pa. tense. α. 1 sceóc, scóc, 3 scoc, scok(e, ssoc, ssok, 3–4 schok, choke, 4–5 schook, 4–6 schoke, Sc. schuk(e, 4–7 (9 dial.) shoke, (4 shok, shuke), 6–7 shooke, (6 showke, Sc. schuik, 6, 9 sheuk), 9 dial. shu(c)k, north. shuik, 5– shook. β. 4 shakid, 5 shakyd, 6 schaked, shakte, 6–7 shakt, shak't, 9 dial. shacked, sha(c)kt, shakked, Sc. and north. shaket, -it, 5–9 shaked, 6–9 shak'd. γ. 3 scæken (pl.). pa. pple. α. 1 sceacen, scacen, scæcen, 4 schaken, (yshaken), s(c)hakun, schake, 4–6 shake, 5 i-sake, 5–6 Sc. schakyn, 6–7 Sc. scha(i)kin, 6 Sc. shaikne, shacken, shakken, 5– shaken. β. 5 schacked, 6–7 shak'd, shakt, 6 shakte, 7 shak't, 9 dial. shacked, shakked, shak't, 6– shaked. γ. (6 shooken), 7 shooke, 9 dial. shock, shooken, shookt, shu(c)k, -en, Sc. sheuken, shooken, 7– shook.
[OE. scacan str. vb. (scóc, scacen) corresponds to OS. skakan to depart (once only, in pa. tense skôk), mod.Fris. dialects (Sylt) skaake, (Föhr) skaaki to push, displace, LG. schacken to shake, ON. skaka (skók, skekinn) to shake (Sw. skaka):—OTeut. *skakan. (Not found in Goth. or in HG.; the OHG. gloss ‘untschachondes, fluctivagi’ seems to prove the existence of a derivative vb. *scachôn to wander.) Outside Teut. the only probable cognate is Skr. khaj to agitate, churn (khaja, khajā a churn).]
†I.
1. intr. A poetical word for: To go, pass, move, journey; to flee, depart. Said of persons and things, and both in physical and non-physical senses. Also with away, forth, down. Obs.
It is not clear that the notion of rapidity of movement, which may be found in some of the examples, is other than merely contextual.
Beowulf 1803 (Gr.) Þa com beorht leoma scacan ofer scadu. Ibid. 3118 Þonne stræla storm..scoc ofer scildweall. a1000Andreas 1594 (Gr.) [Hi] ᵹewiton mid þy wæᵹe in forwyrd sceacan under eorþan grund. a1122O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 992, Ða sceoc he on niht fram þære fyrde him sylfum to mycclum bismore. a1220Bestiary 264 Ðe mire..suneð it and sakeð forð, so it same were. Ibid. 660. a 1300 Childhood Jesus 1387 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1875) 46 Þo Josep was fram him i-schake. a1300Cursor M. 21228 Quider-ward sum-euer he scok. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7084 Out of his abite he hym schok. 1338― Chron. (1810) 217 Symoun did doun schake [to the king's side]. Ibid. 323 With þam away þei schoke. c1380Sir Ferumb. 928 Duke Rolant saw hymen awayward schake. c1400Sege Jerus. 18/315 (E.E.T.S.) Clerkes & comens of contrees aboute, Wer schacked to þat cite. c1450Lovelich Merlin 2744 Grete diches we scholen here make, wherthorwgh this water schal forth Schake. c1450― Holy Grail xiv. 282 And whanne Of his Swowneng tho he Awook, Anon there Into A Sadel he Schook. c1475Hunt. Hare 66 To the town the husbond wentt, As fast as he myght schake. 15..Wedding of Syr Gawene 741 in Syr Gawayne (Bannatyne Club) 298 Syr Gawen rose, and in his hand he toke His fayr lady, and to the dore he shoke.
II. To vibrate irregularly, tremble.
2. a. Of things having more or less freedom of movement: To move irregularly and quickly to and fro, up and down, or from side to side; to quiver, quake, vibrate, waver.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xi. 7 Huæt eada ᵹe in uoestern ᵹesea ᵹerd from uinde sceæcende. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 605 The slakke skyn aboute his nekke shaketh. c1440Promp. Parv. 443/2 Schakyn or qwakyn.., tremo. Schakyn or waveryn, vacillo. 1575Gascoigne Kenelworth ii. v. Wks. 1910 II. 127 Her Majestie came by a close Arbor,..and whiles Silvanus pointed to the same, the principall bush shaked. 1684R. Waller Ess. Nat. Exper. 62 Her Wings..upon the Ingress of the air shoke very much. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 129 The full concerto swells upon your ear; All elbows shake. 1800Wordsw. Pet Lamb 10 His tail with pleasure shook. 1847Tennyson Princess iv. 3 The long light shakes across the lakes. 1860Longfellow Wayside Inn, K. Olaf ii. xiv, While the rifted Streamers o'er him shook and shifted. 1872Calverley Fly Leaves (1884) 65 The mighty pine-forests which shake In the wind.
b. Naut. Of a sail: To shiver, vibrate, flutter.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Shivering, the state of a sail when it shakes or flutters in the wind. 1846Codrington in Nicolas Disp. Nelson VII. 154 note, She kept her starboard and lee studding-sails set and shaking. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., To shake in the wind.
†c. Of a person or animal: To throw oneself or one's limbs about. Obs.
1538Elyot Dict., Succusso, to shake as a horse doth whan he trotteth. 1611Cotgr., Iacter,..to swing, tosse, tumble, or shake vp and downe.
3. a. Of things normally stable or still: To vibrate irregularly, tremble, either as a whole or in its parts, as the result of impact or disturbance of equilibrium. Hence, to totter, lose stability, become weakened.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4241 Al þe hul mid þe vallinge ssoc. a1300Cursor M. 19211 And in þat erth-din þar scok, Þe haligast eft-sith þai tok. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 217 The trompettes..sowned soo sore that the chambre where as he laye shoke of it. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 1508 The starry heuyn, me thought, shoke with the showte. a1530J. Heywood Play of Love (1534) B iv, And therwithall I fet a sygh such one As made the forme shake which we both sat on. 16051st Pt. Jeronimo iii. i. 24 Now, Spaine, sit firme; ile make thy towers shake. 1634Milton Comus 797. 1785 Burns Jolly Beggars, He ended; and the kebars sheuk Aboon the chorus roar. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxix, The postern gate shakes,..it crashes—it is splintered by his blows. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Sir Rupert, From base to turret the castle shook. 1859Tennyson Elaine 459 So..that a man far-off might well perceive..The hard earth shake. 1864― Voyage ii, We felt the good ship shake and reel.
b. fig. Of a person: To lose firmness. ? Obs.
1340Ayenb. 116 Make oure herten ueste and stedeuest þet hi ne ssake uor none uondynge þet to hare comþ.
c. Of a band of persons: To become unsteady, to reel, give way.
1375Barbour Bruce ii. 380 And in the stour sa hardyly He ruschyt, that all the semble schuk. a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (Sommer) 26 b, The great bodie of them beginning to shake, and stagger. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 611 The pikes of the rebel battalions began to shake; the ranks broke.
4. a. Of a person, his body, limbs, etc.: To quake or tremble with physical infirmity or disease; to quiver with emotion; to shiver with cold, to quake with fear.
to shake in one's shoes: to tremble with fear.
[a1100Aldh. Gl. in Napier O.E. Glosses i. 4160 Exhorruit, ofscoc.] a1300Cursor M. 3565 Quen þat sua bicums ald..þe heued biginnes for to scak. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxxv. (1495) 726 The dronklew mannys honde tremblyth and shakyth. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon vii. 161 He shoke all for angre. Ibid. xxiv. 528 He shoke all for fere. 1581A. Hall Iliad x. 183 He stoode so tremblingly, That one full wel might heare his teeth togither so to shake. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 641 Why shak'st thou so? Feare not (man). 1615R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 31 And about midnight..my frend came home againe, shaking every joint of hym. 1735Pope Donne Sat. iv. 279, I sweat, I fly, And shake all o'er, like a discover'd spy. 1781Cowper Conversat. 333 He shakes with cold. 1818Cobbett Polit. Reg. XXXIII. 497 This is quite enough to make Corruption and all her tribe shake in their shoes. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lviii, Was that she? He began to shake at the mere possibility. 1873Punch 15 Mar. 107/2 It had set the whole Liberal party ‘shaking in its shoes’. 1909Mrs. H. Ward Daphne iv. 90 Her small frame shook with weeping.
b. To be convulsed with laughter. Cf. 11 c.
1728Pope Dunc. i. 22 Whether thou choose Cervantes' serious air, Or laugh and shake in Rab'lais' easy chair. 1748Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 61 How wouldst thou [Democritus] shake at Britain's modish tribe. 1905F. Young Sands of Pleasure ii. ii, If the whole of France is shaking with the antics of Venus, the whole heavens are shaking with laughter.
III. To cause to vibrate, agitate.
5. a. trans. To brandish or flourish threateningly (a weapon or something used as a weapon); † to wield. Also, to flourish, wave (something) in ostentation or triumph.
c1000MS. Bodl. 577 lf. 63 b, Macheram stricto mucrone uibrabat, gloss sceoc. c1205Lay. 26481 Heo scæken on heore honden speren swiðe stronge. c1320Sir Tristr. 885 Schaftes þai gun schake. 1470–85Malory Arthur viii. xxxi. 321 He shoke the swerd to the kynge. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1576) 185 A picture of woode, that wulde shake a speare, and rolle the eyes. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. v. 96 Go thou toward home, where I wil neuer come, Whilst I can shake my sword. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 489 And over them triumphant Death his Dart Shook, but delaid to strike. 1712Steele Spect. No. 382 ⁋1 The Prince.. shaked a Cane at the Officer. 1813Scott Rokeby i. ii, Conscience..calls her furies forth, to shake The sounding scourge and hissing snake. 1838Dickens O. Twist xx, ‘Take heed, Oliver! take heed!’ said the old man, shaking his right hand before him in a warning manner. 1862W. Collins Basil iii. vi, He has no marriage-certificate to shake over our heads, at any rate. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xlvii, And the people passing by Stop to shake their fists and curse.
b. fig. Chiefly in phrases. † to shake boast: to boast, swagger. † to shake the feather: see feather n. 8 b. more than you can shake a stick at (and vars.): more than one can count, a considerable amount or number (colloq., orig. and chiefly U.S.).
c1380Sir Ferumb. 3645 After hym folwede & schoke bost xxxti þowsant on an host. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 45 Thou shakest boast [jactas] oft of her foly in vayne. 1818Lancaster (Pa.) Jrnl. 5 Aug. 3/1 We have in Lancaster as many Taverns as you can shake a stick at. 1843R. Carlton New Purchase I. xii. 86 Our queen snake was..retiring, attended by more of her subjects than we even dared to shake a stick at. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. viii. 21 A reckless star Seemed shaking over him malific powers. 1904J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Eri iv. 56 There's more Snows in Nantucket than you can shake a stick at. 1939L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xxi. 137, I had more beaus than you could shake a stick at. 1960‘E. McBain’ Give Boys (1962) iv. 32 We get more damn cancellations than you can shake a stick at. 1982Folio Spring 4 More consuls and dictators hanging from her family tree than a prudent man would shake a bundle of twigs at.
6. a. To move to and fro irregularly or tremulously, agitate (some part of the body); (of an animal) to ‘wag’ (its tail) (? obs.); (of a bird) to flap, flutter (its wings) esp. as preparing to fly. Also said of a thing personified. Also with down, wide.
[a1000Phœnix 144 Þonne..he..þriwa ascæceþ feþre flyht⁓hwate.] 1388Wyclif Jer. li. 38 Thei schulen schake lockis, as the whelpis of liouns. a1400–50Wars Alex. 5018 Þan schogs hire þe son-tree & schoke hire schire leues. 1486Bk. St. Albans c viij b, She..drawith booth her wyngys ouer the myddys of her boeke..and softely shakyth them. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 15 [Furor] Shakt his long lockes..And bit his tawny beard to shew his raging ire. 1600Fairfax Tasso i. xiv, On Libanon at first his foote he set, And shooke his wings with roarie maydewes wet. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 66 The Tawnie Lion..Rampant shakes his Brinded main. a1700Evelyn Diary 19 Sept. 1658, Rattle⁓snakes..swiftly vibrating and shaking their tailes. 1797Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Frenchm. T. (1799) I. 192 Dorsain shook his grey locks—‘That's as much as to say our dancing days are past!’ added Antoine, observing it. 1818Scott Rob Roy v, Shaking down a profusion of sable ringlets. 1819Shelley Cyclops 66 Shaking wide thy yellow hair. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iv, He steps proudly along,..and shakes his black chevelure, or lion's-mane. 1852Thackeray Esmond ii. i, His cruel goddess had shaken her wings and fled. 1909J. G. Frazer Psyche's Task iv. 38 The sun-scorched stocks of the fruitless Indian corn shook their rustling leaves in the wind.
b. to shake one's head: to turn the head slightly to one side and the other in sorrow or scorn, or to express disapproval, dissent or doubt.
a1300Cursor M. 24503 On him mi hefd i scock, and said, ‘Vngretli, leif sun, er þou graid!’ c1320Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1069 ‘Par fai, dame’, he saide, ‘no!’ And schok his heved vpon the quen. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2344 And pitously he wep & shok his hed. c1400Rom. Rose 3164 So cherlishly his heed he shook. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia i. (1895) 71 And as he was thus saying, he shaked his heade, and made a wrie mouth. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. ii. 25 Let's shake our heads, and say..We haue seene better dayes. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 819 The Learned Leaches in Despair depart: And shake their Heads, desponding of their Art. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 10 The Captain shook his Head, and said, Carpenter! that is not the Reason. 1808Cobbett Pol. Reg. XIII. 161 It is he who now nods yes, or shakes no, while the ministers are speaking. 1865Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. I. xi. 134 ‘No, I shan't!’ said Molly, shaking her head. 1897M. Pemberton Queen of Jesters iv. 176 The Corsican shook his head, implying that he doubted.
c. to shake one's ears: lit. of an animal, hence fig. of a person likened to an animal, (a) to wake up, bestir oneself; (b) to show indifference or dislike, pleasure in freedom, mirth, etc.
1580Lyly Euphues Wks. 1902 II. 35 Euphues..began to shake his eares, and was soone apparailed. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. i. 34–40 When Gods threatenings are vttered vnto vs, a great many of vs do but shake our eares at them. Ibid. viii. 1–4. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 924 [Hounds] Shaking their scratch'd ears, bleeding as they go. 1601― Jul. C. iv. i. 26 Then take we downe his Load, And turne him off (Like to the empty Asse) to shake his eares, And graze in Commons. 1601― Twel. N. ii. iii. 134. 1645 G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 II. 42 Thriftie villagers Have long since shak'd their Ears. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. viii. 220 The Mountebanck shak'd his ears, (as if he drank base wine). 1747H. Walpole Let. to H. S. Conway 8 June, How merry my ghost will be, and shake its ears to hear itself quoted as a person of consummate prudence!
d. To wave (the hand) in farewell.
1569W. Hubbard Ceyx & Alcyone A v, She sawe him becking with his hand: And she likewise her hands did shake [Ovid: concussaque manu dantem sibi signa maritum prima videt, redditque notas]. a1700Dryden Ceyx & Alcyone 77 [She] first her Husband on the Poop espies Shaking his Hand..; She took the Sign; and shook her Hand again. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxix, Amelia..acknowledged her presence..by kissing and shaking her fingers playfully in the direction of the vehicle.
e. to shake one's elbow: to gamble with dice.
1623Webster Devil's Law Case ii. i, This comes of your..Shaking your elbow at the Taule-boord. 1705,1826[see elbow 4 e]. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 10. 47 A famous gamester..was elected Margaret-professor of divinity: so great, it seems, is the analogy between dusting of cushions, and shaking of elbows.
f. to shake a foot, hoof (U.S.), leg (see leg n. 2 b; also, to hurry), toe, shake one's bones, feet, heels, hough (Sc.), shanks; also to shake it = to dance (Obs. exc. U.S. Blacks); also, to shake that thing.
1661Thrac. Wonder ii. C 4, Son, set down thy Hook, and shake it lustily. 1667Dryden Tempest iv. iii, Now wou'd I lay greatness aside, and shake my heels, if I had but Musick. 1828J. Ruddiman Tales & Sk. 62 When he shakes his bowed houghs to the sound o' Rab Murray's creaking catgut. 1830Buckstone Wreck Ashore ii. i, Dance with? with me, to be sure; though I hav'n't shaken a toe these twenty years. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xvii, They hav'nt a lilt to shake their bones to. 1848Buffalo Gals (song) 3, I ax'd her would she hab a dance... I taught dat I might get a chance, To shake a foot wid her. 1850Thackeray Mr. Malony's Acc. Ball x, in Punch Aug. XIX. 53 And I'd like to hear the pipers blow, And shake a fut with Fanny there! 1884D. Grant Lays & Leg. North 99 Resolved to shak' their heels,..In jigs and Highland reels. 1904N.Y. World Mag. 1 May 6/3 Shake a leg..meaning to ‘hurry up’. 1927Jrnl. Abnormal & Social Psychol. XXII. 16 ‘Shake it’, ‘shake that thing’, etc. Such expressions are very frequent in the blues. Ostensibly they refer to dancing, but they are really Negro vulgar expressions relating to coitus. 1927S. Lewis Elmer Gantry xxv. 333 Come on, Reverend. I bet you can shake a hoof as good as anybody! The wife says she's gotta dance with you! 1935F. M. Davis Black Man's Verse 34 Strut it in Harlem, let Fifth Avenue shake it slow Plink plank plink a plink. 1952Wodehouse Barmy in Wonderland viii. 82 ‘Clean this place up.’.. ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘And shake a leg.’ 1967M. C. Melnick in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 273/1 If you shake it, I'll buy you a diamond ring.
† transf.1595A. B. Noblen. Asse D 3, Whereupon, he caused him with the rest, to be hanged by the neckes, and (as the common prouerbe is) sent them to shake their heeles against the winde. 1611Chapman May-Day i. 10 Let her shake her heeles..I would make her shake her heeles too, afore I would shake mine thus.
g. refl. Of a person or animal: To give a shake to his or its body (e.g. in order to throw off wet, snow, dust, etc., or to remove the stiffness caused by repose); fig. to bestir oneself, arouse oneself to activity. Also with complement, to shake oneself free, loose, awake, sober, and with const. from.
1390Gower Conf. III. 75 Into an Egle he gan transforme after that himself he schok. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiv. 497 He [Bayard] shaked hymselfe for to make falle the water from hym. 1535Coverdale Isa. lii. 2 Shake the [1611 shake thy selfe] from the dust, arise & stonde vp, o Ierusalem. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. v. Wks. 1851 II. 55 The regent saw the danger of allowing the duke to shake himself loose, in this manner, from his engagements. 1845D. Jerrold St. Giles i, ‘What's the matter?’ asked the watchman..surlily shaking himself. 1859Farrar Jul. Home xvii. 222 A large and fierce mastiff also shook himself from sleep. 1861Geo. Eliot Silas M. iii, Just shake yourself sober and listen, will you? 1888Stokes Celtic Ch. 153 The Roman Church determined at last to shake itself free from this thraldom. 1899B. M. Dix Hugh Gwyeth xvi. 261 ‘'Twill be sunrise soon’, Hugh said, and shook himself awake.
h. intr. for refl.
1893Sir R. Ball Story of Sun 255 They shake clear from one surrounding group merely to ally themselves with another.
7. a. trans. To cause to move irregularly to and fro by external force; to make to flutter or quiver; to agitate. Naut. To cause (a sail) to flutter in the wind. Also with adv., as about, abroad.
a1000Cædmon's Exod. 176 (Gr.) Guðweard gumena..wælhlencan sceoc. c1386Chaucer Prol. 406 With many a tempest hadde his berd been shake. 14..Beryn 1762 Who so shoke a rynge, Ther no man is within, þe rynging to answere. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §25 Whan thy medowes be mowed,..if the grasse be very thycke, it wolde be shaken with handes, or with a shorte pykforke. 1534Tindale Matt. xi. 7 Went ye out to se a rede shaken with the wynde? c1570Buggbears i. ii. 134 Ther they shaked Iron chaynes. 1648T. Hill Strength Saints 5 It is clean water indeed, that when the glasse is shaked, there is no filth appeares. 1770Langhorne Plutarch, Demetrius (Rtldg.) 615/2 Bocchoris..ordered the man to tell the gold that she demanded into a bason, and shake it about before her, that she might enjoy the sight of it. 1797Colman Br. Grins, Night-gown & Slippers (1804) 30 When taken, To be well shaken. 1813Shelley Q. Mab i. 205 The Queen Shaking the beamy reins Bade them [the coursers of the air] pursue their way. 1825Scott Betrothed xxvii, Genvil slowly unrolled the pennon—then shook it abroad. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 32 The glass of Time..Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden sands. 1851Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. ii. 175 At which we shook the sword within the sheath Like heroes. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 41 Keeping the ship close to the wind without shaking the sails.
slang.1788Grose Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 2), To shake a cloth in the wind; to be hanged in chains.
b. With additional notion of a purpose of dislodging or discharging something adhering or contained.
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 922 She gan the hous to dighte,..Preyynge the chambreres..To hasten hem, and faste swepe and shake. 1388Wyclif 2 Esdras [Neh.] v. 13 Y schook [1382 shakide out] my bosum, and Y seide, So God schake awei [ 1382shake out] ech man, that fillith not this word. 1530Palsgr. 700/1 Shake the table clothe or you laye it on agayne. 1595Shakes. John iii. iii. 7 And ere our comming see thou shake the bags Of hoording Abbots. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 238 You may..shake for Food the long⁓abandon'd Oak. 1784Cowper Task iv. 499 Society, grown weary of the load, Shakes her encumber'd lap. 1847Act 10 & 11 Vict. c. 89 §28 Every Person who beats or shakes any Carpet, Rug, or Mat.
8. a. To grasp or seize and move (a person) roughly to and fro; esp. (a) as a punishment or in a struggle; also in phr. to shake by the beard or ears.
to shake a fall (Wrestling): see fall n.1 13.
a1300Cursor M. 7509 And i..scok þam [sc. a bear and a lion] by þe berdes sua. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1823 [The wrestlers'] brestes to-gyder met;..Ilk oþer pulled, ilk oþer schok. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 253 And so they shoke and lugged eche other, but finably hercules cast theseus. 1565J. Phillips Patient Grissell 541 (Malone Soc.), Jacke sauce I shake you by the eares. 1611Bible Job xvi. 12 He hath also taken me by my necke, and shaken me to pieces. 1665in Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 237 P. J...gript him and shakt him and tould him tythes should quickly be putt downe. 1795Burns To Collector Mitchell Postscr., Grim loon! he [Death] got me by the fecket, And sair me sheuk. 1838Dickens O. Twist vi, Oliver..shook him, in the violence of his rage, till his teeth chattered in his head. 1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. vi. 390 Dr. May stepped towards her, almost as if he could have shaken her.
(b) for the purpose of arousing him. Also transf. of an inanimate agency: To rouse or startle (a person from sleep).
1530Palsgr. 706/1, I shake one that is aslepe tho [sic] wake him, je sace. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 319, I heard a humming,..which did awake me: I shak'd you Sir, and cride. 1728–46Thomson Spring 1024 Sudden he starts, Shook from his tender trance. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxiv, Though he shake thee something roughly by the shoulders to awake thee. 1872J. G. Holland Marble Prophecy 84 Silence thy strong pulse repeating Wakes me—shakes me—from my rest.
b. Of an animal: To worry (its antagonist or prey).
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Excutio, A lamme shaken in pieces. 1589L. Wright Hunt. Antichrist 11 John Wicklif an eger bloudhound..so hunted and shaked that venemous Dragon in his time, as the woundes he gave him, coulde neuer yet be cured. 1611Cotgr., Goussepiller, to shake, or tug, as a Dog doth a Cat, &c. 1807Med. Jrnl. XVII. 272 A mad dog..met two men, both of whom he shook and bit. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Shack, a word used in encouraging a curr-dog to worry a fox; ‘shack him!’ is the cry.
c. To rouse up (an animal) to activity; to ‘shake up’ a horse (see 21 c); also absol.
1853G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand xi, This is the time to shake to the front, and cut down three of the best riders England can produce. 1904Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Shake 5 A farmer buying a horse said, ‘Shack him over the stones, let's see if he's got a thistle in 'is toe.’
9. To clasp and move to and fro (another person's hand) as a customary salutation or an expression of friendly feeling.
a. to shake hands (said of two persons mutually saluting thus); also (of one person) to shake hands with (another):
(a) as a greeting, sign of friendship or goodwill, confirmation of a promise, bargain, etc.; (of combatants) as a sign of the absence of ill-feeling. Also fig., spec. in phr. to shake hands with an old friend, the wife's best friend (colloq.), of men: to urinate.
1535Coverdale 2 Macc. xii. 12 Whervpon they shoke hondes [Gr. λαβόντες δεξιάς], and so they departed to their tentes. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. iii. L ij b, That they maye shake handes with me. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 46 But bothe [combatants] be contented and shake handes. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 52 And coming near together, they [sc. wrestlers] shake hands, and embrace one another with a cheerful look. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 357 They shook Hands, and swore to one another that they would be reveng'd. 1826Coleridge Six Months W. Ind. 287, I would rather shake hands with a highwayman than with a gentleman who [etc.]. 1827Scott Surg. Dau. iv, Let me see you shake hands, and let us have no more of this nonsense. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xv, ‘Sit down, sir’, said Mr. Boffin, shaking hands with him. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert v. 48 Now we have shaken hands on the bargain.
fig.1565W. Allen Def. Cath. Ch. Doctr. Pref. 20, I feare me they haue indented with deathe, and shaked handes withe helle. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. iv. 102. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 588 note, Resolve, that the Orient shall sooner shake hands with the West. 1797T. Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. II. lx. (ed. 2) 367 Thus do..harvest and the..spring shake hands together. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. x. (Rtldg.) 372 Here it was..that I first shook hands with sensuality. 1829Lytton Devereux i. iii. 12 Application and I, having once shaken hands, became very good acquaintance. 1874Blackie Self-Culture 21 That famous son of Philip of Macedon, who with his conquering hosts caused the language of Socrates and Plato to shake hands with the sacred dialect [etc.]. 1952M. Tripp Faith is Windsock iii. 44 ‘I'm going out for a crafty smoke; anyone coming?’ ‘Sure, I'll come... I want to shake hands with an old friend, anyway.’ 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Sept. 812/2 Expressive Australianisms to describe this prosaic function;..pointing Percy at the porcelain, shaking hands with the wife's best friend, [etc.].
(b) as a farewell.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 37 We shoke handes, and parted. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 128. 1826 Coleridge Six Months W. Ind. 74 Having shaken hands with kind Antonio..we mounted our horses. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xl. 29 But thou and I have shaken hands, Till growing winters lay me low.
fig.1577–87Harrison England ii. xi. 186/2 in Holinshed, It is the custome of the more idle sort hauing once serued,..to shake hand with labour, for euer. 1674S. Vincent Yng. Gallants Acad. 99 His word and his meaning are quadrate, and never shake hands and part. 1742Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 386, I have long since shook hands with the world. 1867A. J. Wilson Vashti xxxii, A lonely woman, who has shaken hands with every earthly hope.
b. to shake (a person's) hand, to shake (a person) by the hand = to shake hands with.
1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. iii. L ij b, That they maye..shake me by the fyste. a1566R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1908) F j, Let vs agree like friends, and shake eche other by the fist. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 231 With that he..shuik our handis twa. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vi. 75 Let me shake thy hand, I neuer hated thee. 1712Addison Spect. No. 329 ⁋15 He shook him by the Hand at parting. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. v, He shook Silas earnestly by the hand. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. 357 The Dean gave me his first and second fingers to shake at our parting.
c. absol. to shake = to shake hands. Now chiefly U.S.
[1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 185 Let each man render me his bloody hand. First Marcus Brutus will I shake with you.] 1891J. Newman Scamping Tricks vii. 59 Shake. That's right. 1903F. Norris Deal in Wheat iv, ‘Sold! Sold!’ shouted Hornung... Billy, shake on it. 1911Beerbohm Zuleika Dobson xv. 228 ‘Are you going to die to-day, or not?’ ‘As a matter of fact, I am, but—’ ‘Shake!’.. Oover wrung the Duke's hand. 1927Punch 20 Apr. 444/3 ‘Long may it flourish!’ said Roger, shaking vigorously. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling vii. 61 ‘You got to promise..not to beat the very puddin' outen me after you've hunted him.’ ‘Shake.’ A hairy paw closed over Penny's hand. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 199 Tom..said, almost benignly, ‘Now shake!’ and they shook,..in the true spirit of eternal friendship. 1972J. Gores Dead Skip viii. 55 He stood up, stuck out his hand... They shook.
10. a. To put into a quaking, quivering, or vibrating motion (a thing normally firm or fixed); to cause (a structure) to totter; hence, to impair the stability of, to weaken; occas. † to loosen (something rooted). to shake down: to cause to totter and fall.
c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 320 Þe þænne swyðlice þa heannyssa þæs roderes scecð mid his þodenum. a1300Cursor M. 7259 Þe post þat al þat huse vpbare Wit bath his handes he it scok. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) v. 17 He tuke þe post in his armes and schoke doune all þe hous apon þam. 1569T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. iii. xi. 123 And with his great artillary [he] sore battered and shaked the Walles. 1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. lxxi. 146 With y⊇ other shot past, they had somwhat shaken their yron works. 1610Gaultier's Rodomont. E 2, A Bullet..fel into my mouth, shook two of my formost teeth, without iniury or offence vnto mee. 1643Baker Chron., Hen. VI, 64 The Regent..by secret mining and violent Batteries so shooke the Walls, that they agreed to yeild it up. 1690Boyle Ess. Effects of Motion iii. 17 The tremulous motion of the Air..has been able sensibly to shake..the glass-windows of houses. 1715Pope Iliad xv. 119 Jove..Shakes all the thrones of heaven. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxxviii, Age shakes Athena's tower, but spares gray Marathon. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xc. 19 Not less the yet-loved sire would..shake The pillars of domestic peace. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ix. 63 A peal like that of thunder shook the air. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 58 Parts of two monasteries had been shaken down by earthquakes.
b. fig. (a) with object a person (in faith, resolution, etc.) or his faith, purpose, testimony, etc.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxi. (Eugenia) 159 He..fel in disputacion with ane erretike, þat richt wise wes in clergy at dewyse, þat sa wele schoke þe abbot, til [etc.]. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. v. 47 That no compunctious visitings of Nature Shake my fell purpose. 1625Donne Serm. 3 Apr. 6 The righteous is bolde as a Lyon, not easily shaked. 1646in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. ix. 18 The confidence her Majesty had formerly in mee was ever after much shaken. a1729J. Rogers Twelve Serm. viii. (1730) 241 Our Religion, which no Arguments can shake. 1825Scott Talism. xxiii, These attentions were intended to shake him in his religious profession. 1838T. Mitchell Clouds of Aristoph. 798 note, It may almost be thought impertinent to endeavour to shake their testimony. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xl, Adam had not been shaken in his belief that Hetty was innocent. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 48 Let nothing shake your trust in her.
(b) with object (the health or strength of) a person, his body or mind.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 17 It comes from old Andronicus, Shaken with sorrowes in vngratefull Rome. 1651R. Wittie tr. J. Primrose's Pop. Err. Physic ii. ix. 109 The body is shaked, and weakened by the violence of diseases. 1783A. Seward Lett. (1811) II. 75 Shook as his frame has been, his mind has lost, as yet, none of its energy. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxx, Her health also began to be shaken. 1846Edin. Rev. LXXXIV. 176 If your nerves are apt to be shaken by the click of a knife in the dark passage of a hostelry. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxiv, Too much shaken in mind and body to compose a letter.
(c) with object a person, institution, etc., with regard to his or its stability of position.
1545Primer of Hen. VIII (1546) D d iij b, We haue now suffered much punishment, being..shaken with so many fluddes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 48 It is onely the preaching of Gods word, that shaketh theyr [sc. the Papists'] power and dignitie. 1587Golding De Mornay Pref. 10 Now God vouchsafe..to confute them which go about to shake downe his doctrine. 1625Donne Serm. 3 Apr. 17 That great Storme, that shaked the State, and the Church. 1660Dryden Astræa Redux 104 Her blows not shook but riveted his Throne. a1715Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 457 A great part of the property of the Nation..was shaken by the prospect. 1764Goldsm. Hist. Eng. (1772) II. 17 Such a conduct would have shook him on the throne. 1821Scott Kenilw. xvii, Such reflections on government..as tend to..shake the solid foundations of civil society. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 224 An attempt was made to shake the dominion which he had established over Wessex. 1879B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 145 The Thirty Years' War..hardly shook a single society out of existence. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. v. 14 With wrongs would they redub the wrongs they felt, Shake down the state, and furiously be freed.
11. a. Of physical infirmity, emotion, etc.: To cause (a person, his frame, etc.) to quiver or tremble; to agitate, convulse.
1382Wyclif Matt. viii. 14 He say his wyues moder liggynge, and shakun with feueris. 1390Gower Conf. II. 146 Bot if this Fievere a womman take, Sche schal be wel mor harde schake. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 124 Hee is so shak'd of a burning quotidian Tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. 1750Gray Long Story 119 A sudden fit of ague shook him. 1797Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Frenchm. T. (1799) I. 287 Extreme emotion..seemed to shake his whole frame. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 27 And she turn'd—her bosom shaken with a sudden storm of sighs. 1895P. Hemingway Out of Egypt i. xi. 112 The memory of his loss shook him with sobs.
b. To move or stir the feelings of; to disturb, upset. Also, to upset the composure or complacency of (someone) (colloq.).
1567Drant Horace Ep. i. x. D viij, Who so was to much rauished..In flow of wealth, him chaunge of flow yea to much shall yshake. 1610Donne Pseudo-martyr 217 Vpon a mistaking, that the euennesse of his Maiesties disposition might be shaked by this insinuation. 1715Rowe Lady Jane Grey i. i, The genius of our isle is shook with sorrow. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 166 Enjoyment..in the thoughts that shake mankind. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xv, She will be shaken when she first hears the news. 1891Hardy Tess xxxvi, The unexpected quality of this confession..shook him indescribably. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 54 ‘That'll shake him,’ as the transport officer said when he refused to provide a vehicle for the Group Captain without written authority. 1966New Yorker 25 June 52 It shook me some when I looked at the label.
c. To cause (a person, his sides) to quiver with laughter or mirth. Also of a person, to shake one's sides, to be convulsed with laughter.
1593Drayton Eglog vi. Poems (1619) 454 The Man alone, Which once with laughter shook'st the Shepheards Boord. 1736Ainsworth Eng.-Lat. Dict. s.v., She shaked her sides with laughter. 1781Cowper Expost. 548 It shakes the sides of splenetic disdain. 1847Tennyson Princess i. 197 A sight to shake The midriff of despair with laughter. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xiv, [To] shake his honest sides with many an old half-forgotten tale of fun.
d. Austral. and N.Z. slang. to be shook on: have an infatuation for. Also, less strongly, to be keen on, to be impressed by, to admire, and const. after.
1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. 46 He was awful shook on Mad; but she wouldn't look at him. Ibid. II. 291, I must have a dance; blest if I don't!.. I'm regular shook on the polka. 1907H. Lawson in Austral. Short Stories (1951) 84 The trouble is that I'm so long, and I always seem to get shook after little girls. 1926K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks 301 Didn't know she was so shook on Mark Smith. 1934L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch) 27 Jan. 15/7 Shook on, to be, to admire; to be keen on; e.g., ‘I'm not s.o. his horse.’ 1940F. Sargeson Man & his Wife (1944) 22 Mother wasn't too shook on our doing it at first, but afterwards she didn't mind. 1947D. M. Davin Gorse blooms Pale 78, I wasn't as shook on Phyllis as all that. 1965M. Shadbolt Among Cinders xxii. 209 The bush. Still not too bloody shook on it, are you? 1975Sunday Tel. (Sydney) 29 June 49 I'm not all that shook on cocktail parties myself.
12. a. With adv. or phrase: To reduce by shaking (sense 7) to a specified condition. to shake down: to cause to settle or subside by shaking. to shake together: to shake so as to ensure intimate mixture or subsidence into smaller compass.
1382Wyclif Luke vi. 38 A good measure, and wel fillid, and shakun to gidere. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 191 [They] dare not shake the snow from off their Cassockes, least they shake themselues to peeces. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Voiturer, Throughly to digest, (or, as we say, to shake downe) his meat by..exercise. 1656Heylin Surv. France 127 Some [of the dancers] there were so ragged, that a swift Galliard would almost have shaked them into nakedness. 1735Pope Ep. Lady 280 Heav'n..Shakes all together, and produces—You. 1747Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bute 24 July (1893) II. 153 The land so stony, I was almost shook to pieces. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 792 Shake the mixture well together. 1883Century Mag. XXVI. 117/2 She was shaking her match out, as women do [after lighting the gas]. 1898G. B. Shaw You never can tell Plays II. 209 She shakes her dress into order..and goes to the window.
b. intr. for refl. (a) to shake down: to find temporary accommodation, esp. with reference to sleeping, to occupy a ‘shake-down’.
1858–9W. H. Russell Diary India (1860) I. iii. 40 An eligible apartment in which some five or six of us ‘shook down’ for the night. 1869Punch 24 July 31/1, I have often professed myself able to shake down anywhere and rough it. 1888Rider Haggard Mr. Meeson's Will xi, She was led off to the cabin occupied by the captain and his wife.., the captain shaking down where he could.
(b) to shake down into: to settle into, to accommodate oneself to (circumstances, a condition, position, etc.). to shake together: (of a company of persons) to mix, get on friendly terms with each other.
1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i. i, I spent a day or two..before I got shaken down into my place here. Ibid. i. xi, The rest of the men had shaken together well, and seemed to enjoy themselves. 1865Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. I. x. 107 ‘We shall shake down into uniformity before long..,’ said he [referring to his second marriage]. 1889Cornhill Mag. June 561 We have scarcely had time to shake down into the usual routine of a well-ordered household.
c. to shake down: intr. and refl., to settle down, to accommodate oneself to circumstances, a condition, position, etc.
1864C. M. Yonge Trial II. x. 178 Mr. Cheviot, as the family shook down together, became less afraid of Ethel. 1875Trollope Prime Minister (1876) I. vii. 109 You'll find they'll shake down after the usual amount of resistance and compliance. 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin i. 4 You needn't look so scared. You'll soon shake down. Is this your first ship? 1959Times 31 May 11/2 By the time a new American President has..shaken himself down in the White House, the West German federal elections..will be approaching. 1973Times 26 Apr. 17/1 Agricultural prices..produced..several sharp clashes of interest. This is an integral part of the process of shaking down. 1980R. Adams Girl in Swing (1981) xxii. 307 And how is the beautiful Karin? Is she shaking down nicely in England?
13. a. trans. To dislodge or get rid of (something, a person's hold, etc.) by shaking one's body, limbs, clothes, etc. Const. from, off; also with adv., away, aside, down. (For shake off see 19.)
a1300Cursor M. 20962 (Gött.), Bot of his hand..He schok and in þe fire it kest. 1388Wyclif Gen. xxvii. 40 And tyme schal come whanne thou schalt shake awei..his ȝok fro thi nollis. c1440Alphabet of Tales 473 Sho..bear hym..vnto þe galous, & evyn vndernethe þe galows sho shuke hym down. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 261 Vile thing let loose, Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d' Alf. i. 112, I haue shak't that Vermine from off my fingers ends. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 365 He was obliged..to shake the sand from his cloaths. 1791Cowper Judgem. Poets 11 [She would] shake with fury, to the ground, The garland that she wore. 1847Tennyson Princess Prol. 137 She shook aside The hand that play'd the patron with her curls. 1848James Beauchamp II. ix. 195 If the gentleman..seizes our hands, we can often shake him away.
fig.1340Ayenb. 4 Vor to ssake a-way heuinesse an drede. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 291 Vnderstond, ȝe kyngis; and schaak of ȝou rudenesse. 1581N. Burne Disput. in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 155 Iohne Kmnox..schuke louse all the actis of Paipis..maid be continual success of tyme. 1605Shakes. Lear i. i. 40 And 'tis our fast intent, To shake all Cares and Businesse from our Age. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. My First Play, I never pass it without shaking some forty years from off my shoulders. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 3 He could not wholly shake from his mind the influences of the age in which he lived.
b. to shake the dust from or off one's feet: lit. in the Gospel passages (see also shake off, 19 a); hence allusively, to take one's departure from an uncongenial place.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark vi. 11 Sceacas..þæt asca of..fotum iurum, excutite puluerem de pedibus uestris. 1382Wyclif ibid., Shake awey the powdre fro ȝoure feet. 1672tr. J. de Luna's Pursuit Lazarillo vii. O 7, I shaked upon them the dust off [1622 of] my shoes. 1782F. Burney Cecilia viii. i, I then paid off my lodgings, and ‘shaking the dust from my feet’, bid a long adieu to London. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. vi, At length the pilgrim shook the dust off his feet at Heidelberg. 1921Galsworthy To Let vii. 181 Impressions of the United States, whose dust he had just shaken from off his feet—a country..so barbarous in every way.
c. orig. U.S. To get rid of, cast off (a person); to give up (a habit). Also, to give (a person) the slip; to jilt; occas. to abandon (a place); to shake off (an illness, feeling, etc.).
1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It xlvii. 336 He never shook his mother... No indeedy..he looked after her and took care of her. 1873B. Harte Fiddletown 24 But she should shake you, Kernel, thet she should just shake you—is what gits me. 1874(song) I'll Never Get Drunk Any More, Chorus: The pledge I will take, the whisky I'll shake, Oh I'll never get drunk any more. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxi. 323 That little rascal has stole our raft and shook us, and run off. 1893Kipling Seven Seas 96 We've shaken the Clubs and the Messes To go and find out and be damned. 1896Harper's Mag. Apr. 779/1 Then Ruth shook me. 1903Smart Set IX. 13/2 You'll have to shake the drink; that goes without saying. 1907R. W. Service Songs of Sourdough 13, I was all caked in on a dance-hall jade, but she shook me in the end. 1934in J. A. & A. Lomax Amer. Ballads & Folk Songs xx. 459 She shook me for the driver. 1935M. de la Roche Young Renny iv. 28 ‘He was paying us a visit and the time went on and—he just came with us.’ ‘You mean you couldn't shake him?’ 1949R. Chandler Let. 21 Mar. (1981) 157 I'm going down to Palm Springs for a week to try to shake this cough. 1953‘S. Ransome’ Drag Dark (1954) xiii. 131 We deliberately shook you that night, then tailed you back here. 1958J. Kerouac On Road v. 34 ‘I have a date with my boy friend.’ ‘Can't you shake him?’ 1965V. Canning Whip Hand v. 51 If anyone was following you must have shaken them. 1972‘T. Coe’ Don't lie to Me (1974) vii. 75 The picture of the murderer stayed in my head... Trying to shake it, trying to shake the mood it was giving me, I searched for other things to think about. 1974‘J. Ross’ Burning of Billy Toober x. 97 If you don't shake it [sc. heroin], it'll kill you in the end. 1977Rolling Stone 16 June 34/4 Blauer had admitted himself to a New York state hospital hoping to shake a debilitating depression. 1979‘S. Woods’ This Fatal Writ 129 If you know you're being followed, it isn't too difficult to shake a tail.
14. To dislodge or eject by shaking the receptacle or support:
a. const. from, etc., or with adv. down, off, etc. (For shake out see 20.)
1500–20Dunbar Poems vii. 3 The levys are doun schakyn with the schouris. a1529Skelton E. Rummyng 198 Than Elynour taketh The mashe bolle, and shaketh The hennes donge away. 1545in Leadam Court Requests (Selden Soc.) 187 He..lyked theym nott whervpon he showke theym forthe of hys bagg. 1607Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 179 Hence rotten thing, or I shall shake thy bones Out of thy garments. Ibid. iv. vi. 99 As Hercules did shake downe Mellow Fruite. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. viii, The first jolt had like to have shaken me out of my hammock. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 31 Shake this earth away from the roots. 1889N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v. Shack, I'll goä shack sum cherries doon.
†b. simply. To cast down, scatter (fruit, blossom, corn, etc.) by shaking; = shake down above. Also, to turn out (a fox) from a bag (cf. 20 a, quot. 1856).
1576Gascoigne Grief of Joye Wks. 1910 II. 535 The weakest wynde, can shake their bravest bloomes. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus T ij, The wallnut tree wel bet when his nuts are shaken, beareth more fruit the yeare ensuing. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. ii. 140 It..Confounds thy fame, as whirlewinds shake faire budds. 1605― Macb. iv. iii. 238 Macbeth Is ripe for shaking. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. iii. i, A sweet young blossome shak'd before the time. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 185 On Thursday the 2d instant, a fox was shook near Mr. Markey's.
Proverbial phr.1557Edgeworth Serm. ccxxx. C 1, All this wynde shoke no corne, all this moued him not. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 1 All this wind shakes none of my Corne, quoth Perceuall. 1629J. Taylor (Water-P.) Wit & Mirth Wks. 1630 ii. 200/2 Wel quoth Sara, all this winde shakes no corne.
c. intr. Of fruit, blossom, corn: To fall, scatter. Now dial.
1725P. Blair Pharmaco-Bot. iii. 130 Being again timely ripe, it mixes and shakes before any other Grain. 1788W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 350 To Shack (that is, to shake); to shed, as corn at harvest. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 155 These [kinds of oats] are apt to shed the grain or shake, if allowed to be fully ripe before they are cut down. 1813T. Busby Lucretius II. iv. Comm. 6 The fine seeds of southernwood..slightly shook. a1904in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Shake, This corn shacks out wi' t' wind.
15. a. To distribute with a shake, to scatter, sprinkle. Also with forth, down.
c1400Destr. Troy. 2206, I graunt thee þe gouernaunse of þis gret mode, And shake it on þi shulders. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 14 The perly droppis schake [pa. pple.] in silvir schouris. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 595 Wheron stode a lybbard,..And with his forme foote he shoke forthe this wrytyng. 1620Hist. Frier Rush (1810) 32 With his forke he shaked the straw abroad. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 711 Satan..like a Comet burn'd, That..from his horrid hair Shakes Pestilence and Warr. 1728–46Thomson Spring 318 The Winter keen Shook forth his waste of snows. 1747H. Glasse Cookery ii. 25 Shake a little Flour over it. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose vi, ‘Shake down plenty of straw in the great barn,’ said the Laird. 1857T. Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 11 When shaken over a sheet of paper they [the spores] are scarcely visible to the naked eye.
b. To cast (dice) usually with a preliminary shake; hence to gamble away (an estate); also with personal object, to ‘throw’ against (a person) for whatever is staked.
1570B. Googe Pop. Kingd. 47 Dice are shakte. 1693Humours Town 25 To shake away an Estate to known Rooks that live by the Dice. 1875Wood & Lapham Waiting for Mail 79 I'll shake you for drinks.
16.
†a. to shake (a person) out of (property): to rob, plunder. Obs.
b. slang. To steal (goods); to rob (a person). Now Austral.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4514 He þat schakith Men out of hire good. 1538Elyot Dict. Add., Excutere aliquem, to robbe one, to shake oone out of his clothes. 1567Harman Caveat xix. (1869) 67 When these [walking morts] get ought..as money or apparell, they are quickly shaken out of all by the vpright men. 1811Lex. Balatron., Shake, to draw any thing from the pocket. He shook the swell of his fogle; he robbed the gentleman of his silk handkerchief. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Shake, to steal or rob; as I shook a chest of slop, I stole a chest of tea; I've been shook of my skin, I have been robbed of my purse. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xix. II. 22, I shook a nag, and got bowled out and lagged. 1903W. Craig Adv. Austral. Goldf. 191 The man..wondered if ‘he’ was worth ‘shaking’.
c. to shake down, to extort money from, to blackmail or otherwise pressurize (a person) for (occas. of) money, etc. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1872G. P. Burnham Mem. U.S. Secret Service p. viii, Shake, out to ‘shake down’; to extort money from individuals. 1916J. London Let. 12 Oct. (1966) 473 ‘Uncle Charley’..then proceeded to shake you down in proper money-lender..fashion. 1927J. Barbican Confess. Rum-Runner xiv. 148 For only last week they were shook down for five hundred by a stray fellow from the Department. 1949Los Angeles Times 5 May 1/3 Ferguson..accused them of trying to ‘shakedown’ Mickey Cohen of $5000. 1956H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy vii. 54 ‘You weren't by any chance trying to shake him down?’..‘No, sir. Not a penny.’ 1966T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 ii. 28 He left after shaking her down for four bits for carrying the bags. 1976‘J. Ross’ ‘I know what it's like to Die’ xxii. 144 Sickert had been shaken down for protection money.
d. to shake down, (esp. of police, etc.) to search (a person or place). slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1915N.Y. World 9 May (Suppl.) 14/1 Frisk, to shake down or search. 1955D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dialect Soc. xxiv. 46 They..shook down my hotel. 1968Listener 15 Feb. 210/1 Inmate guards have been in complete control of the prison. They..shook down incoming prisoners to take radios and watches and so on. 1977D. Bagley Enemy xvii. 141 Once Mayberry had been shaken down the guards were taken from Penny and Gillian. 1979D. Anthony Long Hard Cure xxv. 198 The Sony had been in plain sight... Billy Combs was shaking down the rest of the house.
17. a. refl. and intr. Of timber: To split or crack. Also refl.
1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 149 The Boards will Tear or Shake, which is in vulgar English, Split or Crack. 1703T. N. City & C. Purch. 136 The..Boards are set..under some cover'd Shed... For if..the Sun shine fiercely upon 'em..they will tear or shake 'em,..that is, in plain English, split or crack. 1844W. Barnes Poems Rur. Life Gloss., Shook, split, as wood by shrinking.
b. trans. To separate the staves of (a cask). Cf. shake n. 10 a.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., To shake a cask, to take it to pieces, and pack up the parts. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 95.
18. Mus. To accompany or execute with a shake; also absol. or intr. to execute a shake (see shake n. 5).
1611Cotgr., Gringoter, to warble quauer, shake with the voice. 1632Sherwood s.v., To shake the voice (in singing), gringoter. 1659C. Simpson Division-Violist i. 9 Open [-shake] is, when a Finger is shaked in that distance from when it was removed, or is to be set down. Ibid., Wider then that [sc. an interval of a tone] we never shake. 1676T. Mace Musick's Monum. 104 The Back-fall may be either Plain, or Shaked. 1746Tansur New Mus. Gram. 23 A Shake, or Trilloe..is, to shake, tremble, or warble your Voice, or Instrument. 1828Examiner 664/1 She..absolutely introduced two consecutive fifths by shaking on F instead of descending to D.
19. shake off.
a. To cast off or get rid of with a shake or an effort. lit. and fig.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 13 Repente þe,..And shryf þe sharpliche and shak of alle pruyde. 1535Coverdale Mark vi. 11 Shake of the duste from your feet. 1611Bible ibid. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 42 b, Through the onely..eating hereof, they shake off many sicknesses. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 243 A withered Hermite fiuescore winters worne, Might shake off fiftie, looking in her eye. 1642J. Eaton Honey-c. Free Justif. 366 Having shaken off our sinne (as Sampson had shaked off his new ropes). 1671Milton Samson 409, I Might easily have shook off all her snares. 1711–12Swift Jrnl. to Stella 11 Jan., I walked lustily in the Park by moonshine till eight, to shake off my dinner and wine. 1719Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. Trav. Eng. 26 Then the Bull bellows and bounds, and kicks about to shake off the Dog. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 365 The most industrious shake off their old garments about eight o'clock. 1827N. P. Willis Widow of Nain 18 The sentinel Shook off his slumber. 1864Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xvii. (1875) 305 Poland, once tributary, had shaken off the yoke. 1888Payn Myst. Mirbridge III. xlvii. 223, I know from experience how difficult it is to shake off old associations.
b. To get rid of (a person); to draw away from (a competitor in a race).
1530Palsgr. 700/2, I shake of, as one shaketh of or awaye from hym a person or mater that he wolde be rydde of. 1571Satir. Poems Reform. xxix. 34 Quhen he listis, he schaks hir of be diuorce or hir wirreis. 1608Tarlton Cobler Canterb. (1844) 117, I shakt him off as well as I could, but he would haue no nay at all. 1710Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 Sept., I am glad I have wholly shaken off that family. 1823Scott Quentin D. vi, Exerting his strength, he suddenly shook off both the finishers of the law. 1856H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock xiii. 324 ‘You thought to shake me off, did you?’ roared Mr. T. as they landed together in a large grass field. 1878Tennyson Revenge viii, And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his ears.
†c. To let off (a shot). Obs. rare—1.
1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 32 a, Either parte shooke of their shotte, and coupled them selues tegether in a braue Skirmishe.
d. Of a plant: To shed (leaves, fruit).
1388Wyclif Isa. xxiv. 13 If a fewe fruitis of olyue trees that ben left ben schakun of fro the olyue tre. 1575Gascoigne Kenelworth ii. v. Wks. 1910 II. 123 The Trees shooke off their leaves.
e. Naut. To unfasten (a sail).
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 22 When we shake off a Bonnet. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., To shake, to cast off fastenings, as..To shake off a bonnet of a fore-and-aft sail.
20. shake out.
a. To cast out or remove with a shake. lit. and fig.
a1225Ancr. R. 206 Þe scorpiunes cundel þet heo bret in hire boseme, schek hit ut mid schrifte. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14682 Luytel notes þey toke, & holede þem, þe kerneles out schoke. c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 368 Mynyster of the sextry schal..haue oute the tapettes..and the duste schake oute. 1576Gascoigne Droomme of Doomes day i. Wks. 1910 II. 238 You shall never shake a brybe out of your hand, unlesse you shut covetousnesse out of your brest. a1700Evelyn Diary 24 Aug. 1678, This they dextrously turning, shake out like a pancake. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 449 We shook the plants out, and shortened their roots..and repotted them. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. ii. v. 135 A bag-fox being shaken out before hounds by the keeper.
b. nonce-uses. To bring about by ‘wagging’; to produce by shaking.
1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iv. 24 Many a mans tongue shakes out his masters vndoing. 1608Middleton Trick to catch Old One v. ii, Chiefly dice, those true outlanders, That shake out beggars, thieves, and panders.
†c. To cast out the contents of; to empty. Obs.
1382Wyclif 2 Esdras [Neh.] v. 13, I shakide out my bosum. 1639R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) I. 213 Harie Rollock, by his sermons, moved them to shake out their purses.
d. To unfasten or unfurl and let out with a shake (a flag, sail); to straighten out by shaking (something crumpled or folded).
1549Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Schaik out the flag on the top mast. 1800Naval Chron. IV. 394, I dare not shake the reefs out of the sail. 1849Lever Confess. Con Cregan I. xiv, Old Ben Crosseley, of the ‘Lively Biddy’, that wouldn't stand being ordered to shake out his canvas. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xx. (1856) 153 We had shaken out our reefs, and were driving before the wind. 1902J. C. Snaith Wayfarers xvii, He..produced a fresh wig..and having shook it out, discarded the modest wig he was wearing.
e. intr. To show visible signs of trembling.
1843Sir T. Watson Lect. Physic I. xl. 709 [In] the dumb ague, or the dead ague; the patient is said not to shake out.
21. shake up.
†a. To rattle (a chain). Obs.
c1430Chev. Assigne 356 Þey..shoken vp þe cheynes þer sterten vp þe swannes; Eche on chese to his.
b. To shake together for the purpose of combining or mixing; to shake (a liquid) so as to stir up the sediment.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Eye, [The mixture is to be] thoroughly shook up every time it is to be used. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxiii, Mr. Weller, shaking up the ale, by describing small circles with the pot, preparatory to drinking. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 84 If we shake up a mixture of liquids of different densities.
c. To rouse up with or as with a shake.
1850Allingham Poems, Morning i, The wind shakes up the sleepy clouds. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iv, Bob..hollers to his 'osses, and shakes 'em up, and away we goes. 1896Daily News 30 Apr. 3/4 The favourite always had his race well won,..although..Loates had to shake him up.
d. To loosen (bedding, etc.) by shaking.
1833W. H. Maxwell Field Bk. s.v. Training, After he [the horse] has had his food, the litter is to be shook up. 1857A. Marsh Rose of Ashurst vi, [He] had..shook up and arranged my pillows, in a way most comfortable to me.
e. Naut. (See quot.)
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) ii. E e e 2, Shake her up in the wind, let the sails touch! the order to the helmsman to steer the ship so as to let the sails shake with their edges to the wind.
† f. To rate soundly, abuse violently. (Very common in 16–17th c.) Also, to harass, afflict.
a1553Udall Roister D. ii. ii. (Arb.) 33, I was nere so shoke vp afore since I was borne. 1576G. Pettie Petite Pallace 53 b, The king..sent for my youth Iphis, shooke him vp with sharpe threatninges, and charged him..neuer after to be seene at the Court. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 30. 1620 Sanderson Serm. I. 145 What was Eliah to Ahab?..that he durst..shake him up roundly for..his bloody abominable oppressions? 1637Heylin Antid. Lincoln iii. 9 Your next vagarie is upon the Doctor... The Doctor thus shaked up, you goe on againe unto the point of Iurisdiction.
g. To upset the nerves of, agitate, confuse.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn vi. 40 People allowed there'd be another trial to..give me to the widow for my guardian... This shook me up considerable, because I didn't want to go back to the widow's. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. ii. 31 ‘Well, you was shook up and silly’, said Dan.
IV.
22. The verb-stem in combination: † shake-brained a., of unsound mind, crazy, crack-brained; † shake breast = wave-breast (cf. Geneva Bible 1560, Lev. x. 15 shakẽ breast, Num. vi. 20 shaken breast); † shake-day-sheaf = wave-sheaf; shake-hands, an act of shaking hands with another person; hence shake-hand attrib.; shake-lurk slang, a sham official document falsely declaring that the bearer has suffered shipwreck; † shake offering, a wave offering; † shake rotten a., a term of abuse; † shake-sheaf = shake-day-sheaf; shake-tail a., of a woman, loose.
1793Gentl. Mag. Feb. 126 A..*shake-brained fellow.
1647Husbandm. Plea agst. Tithes 38 Then the custome is (in some Parishes) for the Parson to have a tenth joynt, a heave shoulder, or a *shake breast. c1659Bp. Brownrig Serm. (1674) I. xxi. 278 God, saith Gregory, requires not only pectus fidei..the shake-breast of faith, but [etc.].
1650Trapp Comm. Levit. xxiii. 11 This *shake-daie-sheaf was a pregnant type of Christ's rising again.
1856Lever Martins of Cro' M. l. 491 Not a little provoked at the *shake-hand salutation her son had accorded him.
1800F. Burney Let. 18 July (1973) IV. 436 William will be much pleased by a private congratulatory *shake hands from you in his own Apartment. 1811Ora & Juliet I. 235 After..a hearty shake-hands with Brewster. 1889D. C. Murray Dangerous Catspaw 33 He..executed a hearty shake-hands.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 219 Armed with these [sham official documents], the patterer becomes a ‘lurker’... Shipwreck is called a ‘*shake lurk’.
1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 574 The *shake offering was shaken to and fro.
1595Peele Old Wives T. D, This *shake rotten parish that will not burie Iack.
1650Trapp Comm. Levit. xxiii. 17 The *shake-sheaf..of their barlie⁓harvest.
1782E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman II. 120 A couple of *shake-tail jabbering wenches.
Add:[III.] [20.] f. trans. To dismiss or remove by means of a shake-out; esp. to get rid of (redundant staff) through reorganization.
1905Westm. Gaz. 8 July 1/2 Fence-sitters and faint-hearts are to be shaken out, so that..those who thwart us at the commencement shall not come back after victory as nominal supporters. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 18 Jan. 1/2 The Communist Finance Minister..said he would not insist upon his plan to call in Italian currency to ‘shake out’ gains of black marketeers and war profiteers. 1966Guardian 7 Dec. 8/4 The men shaken out of BMC are predominantly unskilled. 1972Oxford Econ. Papers XXIV. 89 Surplus labour should be ‘shaken-out’ from overmanned industries. 1989Times 8 July 17/2 A few people who were temperamentally inclined to take cash were shaken out. |