shake down

See also: shakedown and shake-down

English edit

shake down (third-person singular simple present shakes down, present participle shaking down, simple past shook down, past participle shaken down)

(transitive) To cause something to fall down by shaking it, or something it is attached to.
shake down apples from an apple tree.
(transitive) To shake someone so money falls from their pockets. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
(slang, transitive, by extension) To extort money from (someone) by means of threats.
- 1966, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 16:
  He left after shaking her down for four bits for carrying the bags.
(slang, transitive) To search exhaustively.
To subject something to a shakedown test.

cause something to fall down

to extort money using threats

to search exhaustively

to subject something to a shakedown text