quake
English edit
Etymology edit
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 vexō (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).
Pronunciation edit
- (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kweɪk/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪk
Noun edit
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.
- 1985, “Miami, My Amy”, in L.A. to Miami, performed by Keith Whitley:
- Well, everybody talks about the California quakes
But the first time I ever felt the earth shake
Was in Miami, when Amy touched me.
Hyponyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
trembling or shaking
earthquake — see earthquake
Verb edit
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.
- a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:
- 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, Nahum 1:5:
- The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence.
- (intransitive, figurative) 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:
- 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, [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, [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, [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, Ezekiel 12:18:
- Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and carefulness.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
tremble or shake
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German edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Verb edit
quake
- inflection of quaken:
Middle English edit
Verb edit
quake
- Alternative form of quaken