shake

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move quickly back and forth or up and down.

   The earthquake shook the whole building.

2. 2
   verb

   To move your head from side to side, usually to say no.

   Shaking his head, he kept repeating "No, no, no."

3. 3
   verb

   To upset or shock someone emotionally.

   Her father's death shook her terribly.

4. 4
   verb

   To get rid of someone or something following you.

   I couldn't shake the car that was following me.

Common collocations

• shake hands Verb + noun
• shake your head Verb + noun

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, sho…

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