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shakedown

shakedown

9 8.5
Getting money or help from someone by threats
  • noun
  • /ˈʃeɪkˌdaʊn/
  • NSFW
translation icon : extorsión
  • The mob was involved in a shakedown, demanding money from local businesses under threat of violence.
  • extortion and shakedown
  • shakedown artist
  • shakedown scheme

Examples

  • The police arrested several individuals for their role in the shakedown of unsuspecting tourists in the area.

  • Debt collection is a shakedown operation.

    Blog text (6)

  • Apparently he has a safe behind the desk where he keeps his shakedown money.

    Goodnight, Charlene (2017)

  • This works about the same way as a mob shakedown.

    Blog text (8)

  • It was obviously a shakedown.

    Homestead (2024)

  • This is a shakedown.

    The Last Castle (2001)

  • It's basically a shakedown.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The city loves its shakedowns to keep the generous salaries and gold-plated pensions of city employees intact.

    Blog text (15)

  • After months of intimidation, the shop owner finally gave in to the shakedown orchestrated by the gang.

Synonyms

extortion
vsshakedown
95 7.4

Getting money or other things using threats, force and misuse of power

seeks money or favors using threats or blackmail rather than official power

How Coercive

shakedown
  • NSFW
9 8.5
to blackmail
139 5.6
threat
∞ 1.9
demand
419 3.1

Surface Forms

shakedown singular
shakedowns plural

Morphology

shakedown = shake + down (opaque) = shake + down

The extortion sense ('obtain money by threats') is an idiomatic semantic shift from physical 'shaking down' and is not directly predictable from 'shake' + 'down' for many learners.

Etymology

Shakedown in the sense of extortion comes from the image of shake + down, as if you 'shake' someone until money falls out, a helpful way to remember the meaning 'to force money out' by threats. So a shakedown is when someone is made to pay under pressure or blackmail.