shake hands meaning: definition, quotations

shake hands

verb

To grasp another person's hands as an expression of greeting, farewell, agreement, etc.

Gerald was enthusiastic. After a while they shook hands, it being time to separate. And for a long time Selwyn sat there alone in the visitors' room, absent-eyed, facing the blazing fire of cannel coal.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
Shaking hands is probably the most common form of social touch in the U.S., and it’s thought to have originated many centuries ago as assurance that neither party was carrying a weapon.2020 May 27, Mandy Oaklander, “The Coronavirus Killed the Handshake and the Hug. What Will Replace Them?”, in Time:

Figuratively To part, to say farewell.

⁠But thou and I have shaken hands, ⁠Till growing winters lay me low; ⁠My paths are in the fields I know, And thine in undiscover’d lands.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXIX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 61:

noun

Ireland, No plural an instance of shaking hands; a handshake

Many a shake hands did I get from the neighbours’ sons, wishing me joy1834, William Carleton, "Shane Fadh's Wedding", Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, Volume 1, p.178 (W. F. Wakeman)
He exchanged greetings with his rival, but their shake-hands was rather a cold one, and each looked the other askance, as if distrust was in their hearts.1909, Frederick Lawton, translation of Jules Verne, The Chase of the Golden Meteor, p.44 (London: Grant Richards)

2 more examples

It was the first time a Minister ever left the country without a ceremonial goodbye and a shake hands at the airport, with the tall hats being doffed.1967 July 27, Jack McQuillan, Livestock Marts Bill, 1967: Second Stage (Resumed). Seanad Debates, Vol.63 No.12 p.4 col.928
I wasn’t sure if it was goodbye, but as soon as I saw Terry I knew it was the last time I was going to see him, and the shake hands was the last shake hands I’d ever have with him.2015 February 1, Brian D'Arcy, quoted in Cork Examiner "Terry Wogan's friend Father Brian D'Arcy tells of their emotional final handshake"

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.