Word.ws English Dictionary

gave one's head a shake

gave one's head a shake is the simple past of give one's head a shake.

Meaning of give one's head a shake

Verb

give one's head a shake (third-person singular simple present gives one's head a shake, present participle giving one's head a shake, simple past gave one's head a shake, past participle given one's head a shake)

  1. (Canada, idiomatic) To reassess the common sense of one's behaviour, ideas, etc.
    • If you're thinking about topping your burger with ketchup, mustard, relish and perhaps a couple of pickle slices, you might want to "give your head a shake."2009 August 20, Joanne Chianello, “New program asks you to pass on the sodium”, in The Windsor Star

Questions about gave one's head a shake

What is gave one's head a shake the simple past of?
Gave one's head a shake is the simple past of give one's head a shake.

Words near gave one's head a shake in the dictionary

  1. gave one enough rope
  2. gave one the lie in one's throat
  3. gave one the mitten
  4. gave one's all
  5. gave one's best
  6. gave one's head a shake
  7. gave one's left nut
  8. gave one's notice
  9. gave one's right arm
  10. gave one's word
  11. gave oneself airs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave one's head a shake (page history and authors); give one's head a shake (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “gave one's head a shake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gave_one%27s_head_a_shake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.