shaker

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English schakare,^[2][3] formed from Middle English schaken (“to shake”) + -er,^[3][2] an agent noun from the verb.^[4][5][6] The verb shake is from Old English sceacan (“to move quickly to and fro”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who or something which shakes: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[4] Etymonline finds the word about 1400 for a sieve, a kitchen utensil, and in the general sense by the mid 15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the general sense, the word was used for many things that shake: in 16th- and early 17th-century Scotland, shakers were thin metal plates on a dress that trembled as the wearer moved;^[4][6] from 1597 quaking grass was called shakers in dialect.^[4] From 1648 Shaker was a name for various sects whose worship was accompanied by shaking or convulsions, often as another word for Quaker;^[4][5] from 1784 it was the name of an American sect, originally followers of Mother Ann Lee,^[5][4] and Merriam-Webster derives this name from a dance with shaking movements in their worship.^[7][8] Shaker furniture, known for its plain functional style, is mentioned from 1866.^[5][8] The cocktail shaker is recorded from 1868,^[5] the shaker for salt or sugar, chiefly North American, from the early 20th century,^[6] and the percussion instrument from 1943.^[4] The phrase movers and shakers, people who get things done, is chiefly North American.^[6][4] In American speech shaker was also an old name for a flour sieve,^[9] and in parts of New York State and New England children were told to Shaker their plates, to eat them clean like the frugal Shakers.^[9] English dialects used shaker for a worn-out garment and for a machine that tosses hay;^[10] in 19th-century slang it meant a shirt (1839) and a beggar who pretended to have fits.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – a sieve, a kitchen utensil.^[5]
• c. 1440 – one who or something which shakes.^[4]
• 1506 – plural, in Scotland, metal plates trimming a dress (obsolete by 1636).^[4]
• 1597 – plural, quaking grass, in dialect.^[4]
• 1648 – Shaker, a member of a sect whose worship involved convulsions.^[4][5]
• 1668 – the fantail pigeon.^[4]
• 1784 – Shaker, a member of the American sect.^[4][5]
• 1812 – a machine for shaking straw or hay.^[4]
• 1866 – as an adjective, of furniture in the Shaker style.^[5]
• 1868 – a container for mixing cocktails.^[5]
• 1943 – a percussion instrument that is shaken.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that shakes.^[12][3][4]
2. A container with a perforated top, for shaking out salt, pepper, sugar and the like.^[12][6]
3. A container in which the ingredients of a cocktail or other mixed drink are shaken together.^[12][6][7]
4. A machine or implement for shaking things, as in a thresher or a mine.^[3][4][6]
5. A simple percussion instrument that is shaken.^[4][6]
6. A fantail pigeon.^[4][6]
7. Shaker: a member of a celibate Christian sect that arose in England in 1747 and lived in communities in America.^[7][4][6]
8. mover and shaker: a person who influences events and gets things done.^[7][6][4]
9. (obsolete, Scotland, 1506–1636) In the plural, thin metal plates that trembled on a dress as a trimming.^[4][6]

Adjective

1. Shaker: made by the Shakers or in their plain, functional style: a Shaker chair.^[6][7][8]

Word family

• handshaker
• peppershaker
• saltshaker
• mover and shaker

Related words

• shake
• Quaker
• boneshaker

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins