Word.ws English Dictionary

in two shakes

in two shakes prepositional phrase: very quickly; without delay.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (dated, idiomatic) Very quickly; without delay.
    • by George! we would souse the Lords o' the Admiralty themselves, if they were here, in a couple of shakes1833, J. E. Alexander, chapter 18, in Transatlantic Sketches, volume I
    • She tried to get the case open. . . . "I wish Father was here," said Phyllis; "he'd get it open in two shakes."1906, Edith Nesbit, chapter 2, in The Railway Children

in two shakes meaning in Marathi and Bengali

in two shakes in Marathi

very quickly
लगेच lagecha

in two shakes in Bengali

খুব দ্রুত, বিলম্ব না করে

Examples of in two shakes in a sentence

  • I'll have coffee ready in two shakes of a cow's tail.1910, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 5, in A Texas Ranger:
  • I'll be back in two shakes of a dog's tail.1922, Agatha Christie, chapter 19, in The Secret Adversary:
  • In two shakes of a duck's tail Gussie, with all that lapping about inside him, will be distributing the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School.1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 16, in Right Ho, Jeeves:
  • Skilled sheep shearers can get the wool off a ewe in two shakes of a lamb's tail.2005 December 15, Adrian Higgins, “And All the Trimmings”, in Washington Post, page H01:

Synonyms of in two shakes

All synonyms of in two shakes

Questions about in two shakes

What does in two shakes mean?
In two shakes means very quickly; without delay.
What is in two shakes in Marathi?
In two shakes in Marathi is लगेच (lagecha). See In two shakes meaning in Marathi.
How do you use in two shakes in a sentence?
I'll have coffee ready in two shakes of a cow's tail.
What part of speech is in two shakes?
In two shakes is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in two shakes in the dictionary

  1. in turn
  2. in twain
  3. in two
  4. in two jumps
  5. in two minds
  6. in two shakes
  7. in two shakes of a cow's tail
  8. in two shakes of a dog's tail
  9. in two shakes of a duck's tail
  10. in two shakes of a lamb's tail
  11. in two shakes of a rabbit's ass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in two shakes (page history and authors); in two shakes (Bengali Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-in two shakes.ogg.

Cite this entry: “in two shakes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/in_two_shakes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.