quake
English
Etymology
From Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷog- (“to shake, swing”), related to Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin vēxō (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).
Pronunciation
- (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kweɪk/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪk
Noun
quake (plural quakes)
- A trembling or shaking.
- We felt a quake in the apartment every time the train went by.
- An earthquake, a trembling of the ground with force.
- California is plagued by quakes; there are a few minor ones almost every month.
Translations
trembling or shaking
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earthquake — see earthquake
Verb
quake (third-person singular simple present quakes, present participle quaking, simple past and past participle quaked or (archaic) quoke or (obsolete) quook)
- (intransitive) To tremble or shake.
- I felt the ground quaking beneath my feet.
- 1575-86, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
- Dorus threw Pamela behind a tree; where she stood quaking like the partridge on which the hawk is even ready to seize.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Nahum 1:5:
- The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To be in a state of fear, shock, amazement, etc., such as might cause one to tremble.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384:
- Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- If Cupid have not spent all his quiver in / Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Now could I drink hot blood / And do such bitter business as the bitter day / Would quake to look on.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene viii]:
- Who honours not his father, Henry the fifth, that made all France to quake, Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Ezekiel 12:18:
- Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and carefulness.
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Derived terms
- quakebreech
- quakebuttock
- Quaker
Translations
tremble or shake
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
quake
- inflection of quaken:
- first-person singular present
- singular imperative
- first/third-person singular subjunctive I
Middle English
Verb
quake
- Alternative form of quaken