shake English · revision 5966

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃeɪk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English shaken, [[inh|ang|sceacan|t=to move quickly to and fro; to brandish; to tremble; to go, flee]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*skakaną|t=to shake, swing; to escape]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which also gave Old Saxon skakan “to depart” and Old Norse and Swedish skaka.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) Barnhart sees no reliable cognate outside Germanic,^(Barnhart 1988) while others suggest PIE *(s)keg- “to jump, move”, comparing Sanskrit khajati “churns, agitates”.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Compare [[shock]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To vibrate, or make vibrate, and to move away: about 725, in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) Old English also used it poetically for departing or fleeing.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of the ground in earthquakes it is from about 1300, and to seize and shake someone from the early 14th century.^(Etymonline) From the late 14th century it meant to mix by shaking a container, and to weaken or impair, on the notion of making unstable.^(Etymonline) To rid oneself of something by abrupt twists is from about 1200, and the colloquial ''shake off'', to get rid of, by 1872 in American English.^(Etymonline) The noun was a charge or onrush in the mid-14th century,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) an act of shaking from 1581,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and the handshake by 1712.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A shake as a moment is by 1816, and ''two shakes of a lamb's tail'' from 1852.^(Etymonline) A trill in music is also a shake.^(Etymonline)^(AHD) The Shakers, an American sect that split off from the Quakers in the mid-18th century, were named from their ecstatic movements in worship.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Shaker'' is from 1440,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''shaky'' from the 18th century.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – to vibrate; to flee, in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – of the earth in earthquakes.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-14th century – the noun, an onrush.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1581 – an act of shaking.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1712 – a handshake.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1852 – ''two shakes of a lamb's tail''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1872 – to shake off, get rid of.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To move, or make something move, quickly up and down or back and forth.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To [[tremble]], as from cold or fear.^(AHD)

+ # To grasp someone's hand in greeting or agreement.^(Collins 2023)

+ # To upset or weaken: ''the news shook her''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(shake off)'' To get rid of or escape from.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An act of shaking.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[milkshake]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(music)'' A [[trill]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(informal)'' A moment: ''in two shakes''.^(Collins 2023)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[shakable]]

+ * [[shaker]]

+ * [[shook]]

+ * [[world-shaking]]

+ * [[ashake]]

+ * [[reshake]]

+ * [[shakeout]]

+ * [[shaky]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[shock]]

+ * [[shaken]]

+ * [[milkshake]]

+ * [[handshake]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}