shake.
To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
Meaning & usage
To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
The earthquake shook the building.
He shook the can of soda for thirty seconds before delivering it to me, so that, when I popped it open, soda went everywhere.
To move (one's head) from side to side, especially to indicate refusal, reluctance, or disapproval.
Shaking his head, he kept repeating “No, no, no”.
To move or remove by agitating; to throw off by a jolting or vibrating motion.
to shake fruit down from a tree
The door finally shook free of its hinges.
To disturb emotionally; to shock.
Her father’s death shook her terribly.
He was shaken by what had happened.
To lose, evade, or get rid of (something).
I can’t shake the feeling that I forgot something.
Nothing could shake his faith.
To move from side to side.
She shook with grief.
To shake hands.
OK, let’s shake on it.
To dance.
She was shaking it on the dance floor.
To give a tremulous tone to; to trill.
to shake a note in music
To threaten to overthrow.
The experience shook my religious belief.
To be agitated; to lose firmness.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *skek-der. Proto-Germanic *skakaną Proto-West Germanic *skakan Old English sċacan Middle English schaken English shake From Middle English schaken, from Old English sċeacan, sċacan (“to shake”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakan, from Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, swing, escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keg-, *(s)kek- (“to jump, move”). Cognate with Scots schake, schack (“to shake”), West Frisian schaekje (“to shake”), Dutch schaken (“to elope, make clean, shake”), Low German schaken (“to move, shift, push, shake”) and schacken (“to shake, shock”), Old Norse skaka (“to shake”), Norwegian Nynorsk skaka (“to shake”), Swedish skaka (“to shake”), Danish skage (“to shake”), Dutch schokken (“to shake, shock”), Russian скака́ть (skakátʹ, “to jump”). More at shock.
The act of shaking or being shaken; tremulous or back-and-forth motion.
The cat gave the mouse a shake.
She replied in the negative, with a shake of her head.
A twitch, a spasm, a tremor.
A dance popular in the 1960s in which the head, limbs, and body are shaken.
A milkshake.
A beverage made by adding ice cream to a (usually carbonated) drink; a float.
Shake cannabis, small, leafy fragments of cannabis that gather at the bottom of a bag of marijuana.
An adulterant added to cocaine powder.
A crack or split between the growth rings in wood.
A fissure in rock or earth.
A type of wooden shingle originally made from split timber.
Instant, second. (Especially in two shakes.)
One of the staves of a hogshead or barrel taken apart.
A rapid alternation of a principal tone with another represented on the next degree of the staff above or below it; a trill.
In singing, notes (usually high ones) sung vibrato.
A shook of staves and headings.
The redshank, so called from the nodding of its head while on the ground.
A shock or disturbance.
An informal unit of time equal to 10 nanoseconds.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *skek-der. Proto-Germanic *skakaną Proto-West Germanic *skakan Old English sċacan Middle English schaken English shake From Middle English schaken, from Old English sċeacan, sċacan (“to shake”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakan, from Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, swing, escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keg-, *(s)kek- (“to jump, move”). Cognate with Scots schake, schack (“to shake”), West Frisian schaekje (“to shake”), Dutch schaken (“to elope, make clean, shake”), Low German schaken (“to move, shift, push, shake”) and schacken (“to shake, shock”), Old Norse skaka (“to shake”), Norwegian Nynorsk skaka (“to shake”), Swedish skaka (“to shake”), Danish skage (“to shake”), Dutch schokken (“to shake, shock”), Russian скака́ть (skakátʹ, “to jump”). More at shock.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.