Literary notes about shake (AI summary)
In literature, the word “shake” carries a rich variety of connotations that range from the literal to the deeply metaphorical. Authors often depict it as a physical gesture—a handshake that seals agreements or parting rites [1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8]—or a subtle movement, like a head shake that expresses disapproval or uncertainty [9],[10],[11],[12]. At the same time, “shake” becomes a metaphor for internal change or the act of overcoming obstacles, as characters “shake off” drowsiness or prejudice [13],[14],[15],[16],[17]. In more expansive contexts, the term even evokes the awe of natural or cosmic forces, with trembling earth or destiny itself being shaken into transformation [18],[19],[20],[21].
- And so, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: You, as your business and desires shall point you,—
— from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare - Accordingly he nodded, and made as though he would shake hands with him.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - “Shake hands in confirmation of the word.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - Ladies rarely do so with gentlemen who are introduced to them; but they usually shake hands with other ladies, if they are standing near together.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - The neighbors met with good-will, parted with a shake of the hand, and never abused each other except behind their backs.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - 'I've waited long to shake his hand with this.
— from Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie - ‘The first thing in a visit is to say “How d’ye do?” and shake hands!’
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - So saying, he bowed to the baroness and her daughter, exchanged a parting shake of the hand with Debray and the count, and left Madame Danglars’ box.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - " The other man would then shake his head.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - I could only mutter and shake my head vaguely.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - It was opened by a very clean old woman, with a slow palsied shake of the head.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - Why do you bite your lips and shake your heads?
— from Lysistrata by Aristophanes - How should their travels teach them to shake off the yoke of prejudice?
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The servants thought me gone to shake off the drowsiness of my protracted watch; in reality, my chief motive was seeing Mr. Heathcliff.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - I don't want, as I raise myself to shake you off, Liz.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - He was beginning to drop asleep, but got up uneasily and walked across the room to shake off his drowsiness.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Incredible that the old place might some day shake off its shackles of poverty and be organized for a decent struggle with life!
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - The voice of the Lord shaketh the desert: and the Lord shall shake the desert of Cades.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And in the bordure of her robe was writ Wisdom, a name to shake Hoar anarchies, as with a thunderfit.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson - Crash after crash of thunder seem'd to shake the solid earth.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - In truth the man whose udal field, By any doom that law can yield From him adjudged the king would take, Could the king's throne and power shake.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson
