🔄 To move quickly 🙅 To signal with body 😨 To unsettle 🏃 To escape 🥤 A sweet drink 💥 A trembling motion 📱 To trigger device action 🤝 A hand greeting 🪵 A wood shingle 🎶 A musical trill

to shake

27 5.5

To move a handheld device quickly so an app notices and does something

verb
/ʃeɪk/

Specialized

: agitar el dispositivo

You can shake the device to refresh the app and get the latest updates.

Examples

To undo the last change you made in the document, simply shake your phone quickly from side to side.
So let's do it and make sure you shake it a lot.
"Just move it to the left and shake it to the right."

Up Up & Up (2019)
All right, so you shake it and you just brush it through.
So we're just going to shake this around here, get this to filter faster.
Cover the bowl with a plate, then shake back and forth to distribute the flour.

Blog text (2)
Combine both ingredients in a jar and shake the container until they're mixed.

Blog text (32)
If you want to activate the special feature, just shake your tablet a couple of times.

Idioms

to shake a leg

Archaic

9 6.5

To hurry when someone tells you to

to shake like a leaf

Informal

3 4.6

To tremble a lot because you are afraid, nervous, or cold

fair shake of the sauce bottle

Australian

9.9

A fair chance to take part or succeed

to give one's head a shake

Informal

8.6

Make yourself stop worrying and start thinking clearly

to shake the pagoda tree

Informal

9.9

To make people react to show hidden problems

to shake the plum tree

8.7

To make ripe fruit or other things fall from a tree by moving its branches quickly

to shake off the dust from one's feet

Literature

9.8

Leave a place after a bad experience and not return

Phrasal Verbs

to shake one's head

284 1.9

Move your head from side to side to show you do not agree

to shake hands

138 1.0

To take someone's hand and move it up and down as a greeting or to show agreement

to shake up

Informal

55 4.3

To change how a group or system is arranged to make it work better

to shake off

41 3.6

Make something unwanted go away, like an illness, a feeling, or a person following you

to shake up

41 4.2

To upset someone strongly and change how they feel

to shake things up

Informal

26 4.2

Make big changes to try to create excitement or improvement

to shake out

10 2.9

Remove dust and crumbs by shaking something

to shake up

10 3.5

To move something quickly so it becomes fluffier or looser

to shake on

7 3.9

Agree to a deal by holding and moving someone's hand

to shake hands

Specialized

1 5.8

To exchange messages between two systems to start a secure connection and agree on security keys

to shake out the rug

1 2.0

To clean a rug by lifting it and beating dust and crumbs out

to shake out the wrinkle

3.0

Remove small folds from clothes by shaking them

to shake off the dust

Informal

6.4

To leave past problems behind and start again

Compounds

fair shake

Informal

16 6.0

An equal chance to succeed and be treated the same as others

shake-up

15 4.3

A major change in how people run an organization

milk shake

1 1.0

A sweet cold drink you get by mixing milk with ice cream or fruit

How Forceful

jolt

64 3.8

to shake

Specialized

27 5.5

move

167 1.0

to flick

60 2.3

to nudge

33 3.8

Surface Forms

shake infinitive

shaking present participle

shakes third person singular

shook past

shaken past participle

Etymology

Shake: The phone or app action called a shake comes from the real physical act of moving a device quickly, and designers used that real 'shake' as an easy way to trigger actions like 'undo'.