shake
/ʃeɪk
/- The entire area shook from the attack, and I was sure Logan was cursing at me.
- The whole area shook as pieces of the ceiling began to rain down on them.
- Morgan braced himself as the process began; the whole room shook as the generators began churning out an unearthly hum.
Synonyms
- From the courtyard, the explosion of a grenade shook the house.
- On the bridge, the explosion nearly shook everyone to the deck.
- The explosion shook the fortress and hurled her to the floor.
- Tears spilt from gray eyes as Suki's body shook with uncontrolled emotion.
- Her whole body shook with emotion as she strode blindly along some path.
- Chance watched her for a few moments, her body shaking with emotion.
Synonyms
- I sit up in my bunk and swing my legs over the side, shaking my foot violently.
- She grabbed at her stomach as forced laughter shook her sides.
- And then the car flipped over tossing them into the side of something and shaking them about violently.
Synonyms
- Jim led the way down the hallway and up the stairs to their front door, shaking water off his jacket as he removed it.
- I pulled my head up from underwater and gasped air, shaking water out of my hair in a spray of droplets.
- He shook water droplets from his chocolate brown hair and put a dark gray vest over his black and gray striped sweater.
- After a few more moments of simply staring at the young man she smiled wide, grasping his shoulders and shaking him gently.
- At 5 am, I was shaken awake from my sleep by the dissonant sound of drumbeats and jarring notes emerging from a defunct synthesizer.
- She felt someone grasp her arms and begin shaking her roughly.
- I turned before I left and shook my fist threateningly at him, then slammed his door.
- Governments that desire otherwise can only shake their fist in anger.
- Glen shook his fist in mock anger, and was answered by another stuck-out-tongue.
Synonyms
- She tried in vain to break the restraints or shake off the helmet.
- But I could never shake off the loneliness that comes from being different from the majority.
- He could never shake off his image as a somewhat effete elitist from America's prosperous northeast.
- The town was shocked and shaken by a very horrible tragedy.
- For the next two nights, Kimmel was visibly shaken and uncomfortable.
- A publicist arrives to announce Drew is visibly shaken.
Synonyms
- The chime of the Hub Tower clock shook her from her practice.
- Someone stepping on his foot shook him to reality again, Sally's big eyes willed him to stay in focus, but he just couldn't.
- He looked genuinely confused for a moment, and then visibly shook himself.
- Camera shake is one of the most common flaws in any video production and yet it can easily be reduced.
- The walls seemed to stretch and reach forever, but the young man just dispelled the image with a shake of his head.
- He gave a single shake of his head and knit his brow.
Synonyms
- Season clam juice or chicken stock with smashed garlic, grated ginger, a shot of sake and a few shakes of soy sauce.
- I mixed all these together with the conch, a tablespoon of fresh lime juice, a pinch of salt, and a few shakes of Tabasco.
- Tip handfuls of pale, hard goosegogs into a stainless steel pan and sprinkle them generously with unrefined golden sugar and a few good shakes of water - just enough to stop the fruit sticking.
- Whatever he had planned for him today, he doubted that the shakes and a cold sweat would go over well.
- The steroid in the cocktail had the side effect of the shakes along with keeping his lungs alive.
- By some small miracle, his leg had gone undamaged, but he had since contracted a severe case of the shakes.
Synonyms
- It's used in fruit shakes in Laos, coffee in Thailand and Vietnam and in America it's the corner stone for Florida's Key Lime Pie.
- The menu also features salmon, beer can chicken, large shakes and specialty margaritas.
Synonyms
- On the exterior, they replaced the fiberglass wall shingles with stained cedar shakes and put in oversized, divided-light windows.
- The shingles are wooden shakes that, apart from the new sections, are greyed from the elements and the outside paintjob is a cream colour with green trim.
- The neat frame building bore a skin of immaculate white clapboard, the tall, pyramidal steeple above the front door shingled with new cedar shakes.
Phrases
get (or give someone) a fair shake
in two shakes (of a lamb's tail)
more —— than one can shake a stick at
no great shakes
shake the dust off one's feet
shake hands (with someone) (or shake someone by the hand or shake someone's hand)
shake one's head
shake (or quake) in one's shoes (or boots)
shake a leg
Phrasal verbs
shake down
shake someone down
shake someone off
shake something off
shake on
shake something out
shake someone up
shake something up
Derivatives
shakeable
Origin
Old English sc(e)acan (verb), of Germanic origin.
Early examples of shake, an Old English word, include not only the senses ‘to tremble’ and ‘to make something vibrate’ but also the poetical sense ‘to depart or flee’. The Shakers are members of a US religious sect, properly called the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming, which split off from the Quakers (properly called the Religious Society of Friends) in the mid 18th century. Participants in the group's services engaged in wild ecstatic movements, and people called them the Shaking Quakers. They were persecuted for their radicalism, and in 1774 left for America, where they lived frugally in celibate communities and made furniture noted for its simplicity and elegance. People sometimes think of the spy James Bond as being shaken not stirred, but the phrase refers to his drink, not to his temperament. In Dr No (1958) by Ian Fleming, Bond gave instructions on how he wanted his favourite tipple: ‘A medium vodka dry Martini—with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred.’ Although Bond is usually described as being licensed to kill, the phrase does not occur in any of the original novels by Ian Fleming. ‘The licence to kill for the Secret Service, the double-0 prefix, was a great honour’, again from Dr No, was the closest approximation. In the 1962 film version it became ‘If you carry a 00 number it means you're licensed to kill, not get killed.’ No great shakes, meaning ‘not very good’, dates from the early 19th century. It probably comes from the shaking of dice, where an unlucky throw would be ‘no great shakes’