the.com/shake
The handshake's lazier cousin, the milkshake's thicker uncle, the earthquake's smaller sibling.
means To move rapidly back and forth or up and down, or to make something else do so — from trembling hands to a mixed drink to a wobbly plan.
from From Old English 'sceacan,' meaning to move quickly, flee, or brandish — a word so old it already had multiple personalities before English even settled into itself. It's related to other Germanic words for swift, jerky motion, though the exact family tree past Old English gets murky. The sense split over centuries into everything from 'shake hands' to 'shake a leg' to the milkshake, which got its name because the drink was originally shaken, not stirred, blended, or questioned.
- milkshakes
- Originally an 1880s alcoholic whiskey drink, not dessert
- handshake history
- Possibly began as proof neither party held a weapon
- shakedown
- Slang for extortion, from literally shaking money loose
- fair shake
- American idiom from dice games meaning an honest chance