Word.ws English Dictionary

shakes out

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

Meaning of shake out

Verb

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

  1. (also, figuratively, transitive) To agitate a piece of cloth or other flexible material in order to remove dust, or to try to make it smooth and flat.
    • Tasks needed to complete Crossrail: [...] Trial run the Class 345s over many thousands of miles on the completed railway to shake out any problems and ensure the highest levels of safety and reliability when passenger service begins.2019 November 20, “Further testing requirements delay Crossrail to 2021”, in Rail, page 13
  2. (transitive) To unfurl a reef from a sail
    • "Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd have the black spot on me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nail what is another's. Is that seamanly behavior, now, I want to know? But I'm a saving...1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
  3. (idiomatic) To result or transpire.
    • We are curious to see how this all shakes out.
  4. To shake one's arms or legs, in order to resist muscle fatigue.

Questions about shakes out

What is shakes out the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Shakes out is the third-person singular simple present indicative of shake out.

Words near shakes out in the dictionary

  1. shakes off the dust from one's feet
  2. shakes on it
  3. shakes one's ass
  4. shakes one's elbow
  5. shakes one's head
  6. shakes out
  7. shakes over
  8. shakes the dust from one's feet
  9. shakes the dust from one's sandals
  10. shakes the pagoda tree
  11. shakes the plum tree

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shakes out (page history and authors); shake out (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 out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shakes_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.