quake
verbEtymology From Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), itself likely of imitative origin. Related to Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin vexō (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).
1
To tremble or shake.
- I felt the ground quaking beneath my feet.
- Dorus threw Pamela behind a tree; where she stood quaking like the partridge on which the hawk is even ready to seize.a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
2 more examples
- The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nahum 1:5:
- The head of the Environmental Protection Agency quakes with mirth at his own punch line. Grimaldi chuckles through his teeth. “A killer, Tom, an absolute killer.”2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 130:
2
Figuratively To be in a state of fear, shock, amazement, etc., such as might cause one to tremble.
- Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
- If Cupid have not spent all his quiver in / Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
3 more examples
- Now could I drink hot blood / And do such bitter business as the bitter day / Would quake to look on.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Who honours not his father, Henry the fifth, that made all France to quake, Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene viii]:
- Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and carefulness.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 12:18:
- Derived terms
- quakebreech, quakebuttock, quake in one's boots, quake in one's shoes, Quaker, quaking asp, quaking grass, quaking pudding