To cause to move with quick vibrations; move or sway with a rapid jolting, jerking, or vibratory motion; cause to tremble, quiver, or shiver; agitate: as, to shake a carpet; the wind shakes the trees; the explosion shook the house: to shake one's fist at another; to shake one's head as in displeasure or negation.To loosen, unfasten, remove, throw off or aside, expel, dispel, or get rid of, by a jolting, jerking, or abrupt vibrating action or motion, or by rough or vigorous measures: generally with away, down, off, out, up, etc.: as, to shake off drowsiness; to shake out a reef in a sail; also, in colloquial use, absolutely: as, to shake a bore.To weaken or impair in any respect; make less firm, sure, certain, solid, stable, or courageous; impair the standing, force, or character of; cause to waver or doubt: as, a searching cross-examination failed to shake the testimony of the witness.To agitate or disturb; rouse: sometimes with up.To give a tremulous sound to; trill: as, to shake a note in music.To steal.To come to an agreement; agree fully: as, to shake hands over a bargain.To shake or jar thoroughly or in such a way as to damage or impair; shock: us, he was badly shaken up in the collision.To upbraid; berate.To be agitated with a waving or vibratory motion; tremble; shiver; quake: as, a tree shakes with the wind; the house shook in the tempest.To fall; jump.To go quickly; hasten.In music, to use shakes or trills; perform a shake or trill; trill.To steal.To shake hands: usually in the imperative: as, shake, stranger.Synonyms Swing, Roll, etc. See rock.n. A rapid jolt or jerk one way and then the other; an abrupt wavering or vibrating motion: as, give it a shake; a shake of the head.n. A shock or concussion; especially, a shock that disarranges or impairs; rude or violent attack or treatment.n. A tremor; a quaver; a shiver.n. A trembling-fit; a chill; specifically, in the plural and with the definite article, the shakes, ague; intermittent fever; also, delirium tremens.n. In music, a melodic embellishment consisting of the rapid alternation of a principal tone with a tone one degree above it; a trill: indicated by the mark transitive, with or without the sign .n. A brief moment; an instant: as, to do a thing in a couple or brace of shakes, or in the shake of a lamb's tail (that is, to do it immediately).n. A crack or fissure in timber, produced during growth by strain of wind, sudden changes of temperature, or causes not well determined, or formed during seasoning.n. A fissure in the earth.n. A long shingle or stave: same as clapboard, 2.n. In printing,a blurred or doubled print made by a shaking or moving of the sheet under impression.n. The redshank, Totanus calidris: so called from its constant nodding or bobbing of the body. See cut under redshank.