Etymologically
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shaker

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈʃeɪkɚ/[1]

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

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