shaken

Adjective

shaken (comparative more shaken, superlative most shaken)

1. Moved rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
   • [A] chief, / With shout and shaken spear / Stands at the prow, and guides them: […]1849, [Matthew] A[rnold], “The Strayed Reveller”, in The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems, London: B. Fellowes, […], →OCLC, page 22
   • For the moment she felt like a shaken child—shaken out of its wailings into awe, and she said humbly—"I will try. I will think."1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXVI, in Daniel Deronda, volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V (Mordecai), page 97
   1. Of a drink, especially (alcoholic beverages) a cocktail: mixed by being agitated with ice in a shaker.
      • The waiter brought the Martinis, shaken and not stirred, as [James] Bond had stipulated, and some slivers of lemon peel in a wine glass. Bond twisted two of them and let them sink to the bottom of his drink.1956, Ian Fleming, “Bitter Champagne”, in Diamonds are Forever (A New Portway Large Print Book), Bath, Somerset: Chivers Press by arrangement with Jonathan Cape, published 1982, →ISBN, page 92
2. Caused to move (and usually weakened) by a strong force.
   • The earthquake led to many shaken buildings and structures.
   • The trunks [of trees] are crushed and shattered / By the fierce blast's unconquerable stress. / […] / And through the ruins of the shaken mountain / The airs hiss and howl— […]a. 1823 (date written), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Scenes from the Faust of Goëthe”, in Percy Bysshe Shelley, transl., edited by Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe...
3. (archaic, broadly, obsolete) Of a cask: taken to pieces which are then tied up together for transportation.
   • A proportion for the ſetting foorth of a ſhip of 200. tunne, for the killing of the VVhale. […] 800. emptie ſhaken hogſheds, […]1575, Richard Hakluyt, “The Request of an Honest Merchant to a Friend of His, to be Aduised and Directed in the Course of Killing the Whale, as Followeth. Anno 1575.”, in The Principall Navigations...
4. (broadly) Of something mined such as coal or ore: broken into pieces.
5. (broadly, timber industry) Of timber: damaged from being cracked.
   • [Y]ou muſt chuſe a piece of VVood at leaſt tvvo Inches and a quarter over, leſt you vvant Stuff to vvork on: Nay, if your Stuff prove ſhaken or othervviſe unſound, or your Centers be not very exactly pitcht, you may vvant yet more Stuff; […]1680, Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] XII. Applied to the Art of Turning.”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume I, London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1678, →OCLC, § XIII (Of...
6. (figuratively) Chiefly of a person: having had one's composure or confidence disrupted or upset; in a state of shock or trauma.
   • We were left shaken by the revelations of abuse.
   • My mother is tolerably well, I trust; though her spirits are greatly shaken. She is up stairs and will have great satisfaction in seeing you all. She does not yet leave her dressing-room.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 93

   Synonyms:

   rattled, shocked, shook

   Antonyms:

   unshaken

7. (figuratively) Weakened by some event.
   • Be mov'd vvith pitty at the afflicted ſtate of this our ſhaken Monarchy, that novv lies labouring under the throvves, and ſtruggling againſt the grudges of more dreaded Calamities.1641 May, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC, page 87

   Antonyms:

   unshaken

Noun

UK/ˈʃɑːkɛn/US/ˈʃɑkɛn/

shaken (plural shaken)

1. A flat shuriken (“dart or throwing blade”) resembling a spiked wheel, as opposed to the longer stick-like kind.