Word.ws English Dictionary

shakes

/ʃeɪks/

shakes is the plural of shake.

shakes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of shake.

Noun

the shakes pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only, slang, usually) Delirium tremens; typically due to alcohol withdrawal.
    • If I don't get a drink soon, I'll get the shakes.
  2. (colloquial, plural, plural-only, usually) A pattern of behavior including twitches, tics and spasms typical of withdrawal from addiction.
    • [Recovering video game addicts] also have sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/05/china_net_addicts/
    • When researchers either stopped the diet or administered an opioid blocker, the rats showed signs common to drug withdrawal, such as teeth-chattering and the shakes. http://apu.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_sugarAddiction
  3. (colloquial, plural, plural-only, usually) A fit of trembling or shivering.
    • "I remember having the shakes sometimes and thinking 'why am I doing this?', and then remembering the vision. Very few of us were extroverts and happy to go on stage.2022 January 12, Adeline Ginn talks to Stefanie Foster, “A fantastic pool of female talent”, in RAIL, number 948, page 33

Meaning of shake

Noun

shake (countable and uncountable, plural shakes)

  1. The act of shaking or being shaken; tremulous or back-and-forth motion.
    • The cat gave the mouse a shake.
  2. (plural-normally) A twitch, a spasm, a tremor.
    • And when the princely Perſean Diadem,
      Shall ouerweigh his wearie witleſſe head,
      And fall like mellowed fruit, with ſhakes of death,
      In faire Perſea noble Tamburlain
      Shall be my Regent, and remaine as King:c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  3. (usually preceded by definite article) A dance popular in the 1960s in which the head, limbs, and body are shaken.
    • The snake did the frug, the monkey did the shake. The crowd, mostly young couples, tourists and kids, loved it.1969, Allen V. Ross, Vice in Bombay, London: Tallis Press, page 52
  4. A milkshake.
  5. A beverage made by adding ice cream to a (usually carbonated) drink; a float.
  6. Shake cannabis, small, leafy fragments of cannabis that gather at the bottom of a bag of marijuana.

See all 30 meanings of shake

Proper noun capitalized: Shakes

Shakes

  1. (plural) plural of Shake

Words formed from shakes

Phrases with shakes

31 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with shakes

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about shakes

What does shakes mean?
Shakes means delirium tremens; typically due to alcohol withdrawal.
What is shakes the plural of?
Shakes is the plural of shake.
What part of speech is shakes?
Shakes can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce shakes?
Shakes is pronounced /ʃeɪks/.

Words near shakes in the dictionary

  1. Shakerisms
  2. Shakerley
  3. Shakerleys
  4. Shakerlike
  5. shakers
  6. shakes
  7. shakes a leg
  8. shakes down
  9. shakes hands
  10. shakes in one's boots
  11. shakes in one's shoes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shakes (page history and authors); Shakes (page history and authors); 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.

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