shake

SHAYK/ˈʃeɪk/

Noun pluralshakes

30 meanings of shake

1
verbtransitive
To hold something and move it quickly back and forth.
Like quickly moving a bottle back and forth to mix what is inside.
Shake the bottle before you pour the juice.
She shook the box to guess what was inside.
Similaragitate, jiggle, rattle
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2
verbintransitive
To move back and forth, from one side to the other.
Like a leaf moving from side to side in the wind.
The branches shake when the wind blows.
The whole bus was shaking on the bumpy road.
Similartremble, shiver
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3
verbtransitive
To turn your head from side to side, often to say no.
Shake your head if you don't want any more.
He shook his head when they offered him a drink.
Oppositenod
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4
nouncountable or uncountable
A quick back-and-forth movement of something.
Give the jar a quick shake to mix the sauce.
The shake of the bus woke the sleeping baby.
Similarjolt, jerk, tremor, jiggle
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5
verbtransitive
To upset someone or make them feel scared or worried.
Like feeling the ground move under your feet when you thought it was solid.
The bad news really shook her.
Scary movies shake him for days.
Similarshock, traumatize
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6
verbidiomatictransitive
To get away from or get rid of someone or something.
The thief could not shake the police car behind him.
She finally shook the cold that had bothered her all week.
Similarlose, escape, evade, elude
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7
verbintransitive
To take someone's hand and move it up and down as a greeting.
Let's shake and call it a deal.
The two leaders shook before the meeting began.
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8
nouncountable or uncountable
A thick, cold drink made from milk and ice cream.
She ordered a chocolate shake with her burger.
Can I get a strawberry shake, please?
Similarmilkshake
9
verbtransitive
To get something off by moving it hard back and forth.
Like a wet dog moving fast to get the water off its fur.
Shake the crumbs off the blanket before you fold it.
The dog shook the water from its fur.
Similarknock
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10
nouncountable or uncountable
An uncontrolled twitch, spasm, or trembling of the body.
A sudden shake ran through his hands as he stood up.
The cold gave her a shake she could not stop.
Similartremor, shiver, shudder, spasm
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11
verbfigurativelyintransitive
To become weak or unsteady, like when someone loses their confidence.
His confidence began to shake before the big test.
Her courage shook as she walked onto the stage.
Similarwaver, falter, weaken
12
nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable
A very short moment of time.
Like the short time it takes to blink your eyes.
I'll be back in a shake, so wait here.
Dinner will be ready in just a shake.
Similarmoment, second, minute, jiffy
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13
nouncountable or uncountable
A sudden shock that upsets things.
The news came as a real shake to the whole town.
Losing the match was a big shake for the team.
Similarshock, jolt, blow
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14
verbfigurativelytransitive
To threaten something powerful and make it seem likely to fall.
The protests began to shake the government.
The scandal shook the company's leadership.
Similarrock, undermine, destabilize
15
nouncountable or uncountable
A 1960s dance where you shake your head, arms, and body.
They danced the shake at the school party.
Grandma still remembers how to do the shake.
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16
verbintransitive
To dance by moving your body to music.
Like moving around to music at a party.
We shake every Friday night at the little club downtown.
She loves to shake whenever the band starts playing.
Similardance, boogie
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17
nouncountable or uncountable
A rough wooden roof tile split from a log instead of sawn.
Like a thick wooden tile chopped straight off a log.
He split each shake from a straight length of cedar.
The cabin roof was covered with rough hand-split shakes.
Similarshingle
18
nouncountable or uncountable
A thin, flat piece of wood used to cover a roof or wall.
Each shake on the porch roof was thinner than the wall shingles.
The roofers nailed down rows of overlapping shakes.
Similarshingle
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19
nouncountable or uncountable
A crack in wood that opens up between its growth rings.
A long shake ran down the center of the oak plank.
Mills throw out beams that show deep shakes.
Similarcrack, split
20
nouncountable or uncountable
A crack or split in rock or the ground.
Rainwater poured into a deep shake in the limestone.
Hikers stepped carefully over the shakes splitting the rock ledge.
Similarfissure, crack
21
nouncountable or uncountable
A quick back-and-forth between a note and the note next to it in music.
The violinist ended the phrase with a bright shake.
Baroque cadences are full of shakes and turns.
Similartrill
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22
verbtransitive
To sing or play a note with a trembling, wavering sound.
The singer shook the long note until it filled the room.
Choir members like to shake their highest notes.
Similartrill, quaver
23
nouncountable or uncountable
A cold drink made by adding ice cream to soda.
Like a soda with a scoop of ice cream floating in it.
She ordered a shake at the corner soda fountain.
The diner's shakes arrived with ice cream bobbing in the soda.
Similarfloat
24
nouncountable or uncountable
Small, leafy bits of cannabis that collect at the bottom of a bag.
He rolled the leftover shake into a thin joint.
Cheap bags are mostly shake and broken stems.
25
nounslangUSuncountable
A cheap powder mixed into cocaine to make it go further.
Dealers stretched the supply with shake before selling it.
The batch was mostly shake, with barely any real cocaine.
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26
nouncountable or uncountable
High notes sung with a trembling, wavering sound.
The tenor held a long shake on the highest note.
Her solos were decorated with delicate shakes.
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27
nouncountable or uncountable
One of the wooden strips from a barrel that has been taken apart.
The cooper set aside each shake to ship it flat.
Workers bundled the shakes from the broken-down casks.
Similarstave
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28
nouncountable or uncountable
A bundle of barrel staves and end pieces packed flat together.
Each shake held all the parts needed to build one barrel.
They loaded the shakes into the ship's hold for the voyage.
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29
nounhistoricalcountable or uncountable
A unit of time equal to ten nanoseconds.
One shake equals ten billionths of a second.
The whole reaction was over in just a few shakes.
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30
noundialectalUKcountable or uncountable
A wading bird, the redshank, named for the way it nods its head on the ground.
A shake waded along the muddy shoreline, bobbing its head.
At dusk the shakes called across the tidal flats.
Similarredshank
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Practice

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Origin

From Old English sċeacan, meaning "to shake." It goes back to an older Germanic word and an even older root meaning "to jump" or "move."