Shake (?), n.
1. The act
or result of shaking; a vacillating or wavering motion; a rapid motion one way and other; a trembling, quaking, or shivering; agitation.
The great soldier's honor was composed
Of thicker stuff, which could endure a shake.
Herbert. Our salutations were very hearty on both sides, consisting of many kind shakes of the hand.
Addison.
2. A fissure or crack in timber, caused by its being dried too suddenly.
Gwilt.
3. A fissure in rock or earth.
4. (Mus.) A rapid alternation of a principal tone with another represented on the next degree of the
staff above or below it; a trill.
5. (Naut.) One of the staves
of a hogshead or barrel taken apart. Totten.
6.
A shook of staves and
headings. Knight.
7. (Zoöl.) The redshank; -- so called from the nodding of its head while on the
ground. [Prov. Eng.]
No great shakes, of no great importance. [Slang]
Byron. -- The shakes, the fever and
ague. [Colloq. U.S.]
Shake , v. i. To be agitated with a waving or vibratory motion; to tremble; to shiver; to
quake; to totter.
Under his burning wheels
The steadfast empyrean shook throughout,
All but the
throne itself of God.
Milton. What danger? Who 's
that that shakes behind there?
Beau. & Fl. Shaking piece, a name given by
butchers to the piece of beef
cut from the under side of the neck. See Illust. of Beef.
Shake , v. t. [imp.
Shook (?); p. p. Shaken (?),
(Shook, obs.); p.
pr. & vb. n. Shaking.]
[OE. shaken, schaken, AS.
scacan, sceacan; akin to Icel. & Sw. skaka, OS.
skakan, to depart, to flee. √161. Cf. Shock, v.]
1. To cause
to move with quick or
violent vibrations; to move rapidly one way and the other; to
make to tremble or shiver; to agitate.
As a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a
mighty wind.
Rev. vi. 13. Ascend my chariot; guide the rapid wheels
That shake heaven's basis.
Milton. 2. Fig.: To move from
firmness; to weaken the stability of; to cause to waver; to impair the resolution of.
When his
doctrines grew too strong to be
shook by his enemies, they persecuted his reputation.
Atterbury. Thy equal fear that my firm
faith and love
Can by
his fraud be shaken or seduced.
Milton.
3. (Mus.) To give a tremulous tone to; to trill;
as, to shake a note in music.
4. To move or remove by agitating; to throw off
by a jolting or
vibrating motion; to rid one's self of; -- generally with an adverb, as
off, out, etc.; as, to shake fruit down from a tree.
Shake off the golden slumber of repose.
Shak.
'Tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age.
Shak. I could scarcely shake him out of my company.
Bunyan. To shake a cask (Naut.), to knock a cask
to pieces and pack the staves. -- To shake hands, to perform the customary act of civility by clasping and moving hands, as an expression of greeting, farewell, good will, agreement, etc. --
To shake out a reef
(Naut.), to untile
the reef points and spread more canvas. -- To shake the
bells. See under Bell. -- To shake the sails
(Naut.), to luff up in the wind, causing the sails to shiver. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
Shake (?), obs. p. p. of Shake. Chaucer.
Hear it pronounced