Revised as of
29 Dec 2022
Sheik it, baby, sheik it has a whole ‘nother meaning from shake it, baby, shake it, and I don’t think (based on the context) that this was what the writer meant out on that dance floor.
For one thing *she says primly* sheik is strictly a noun whereas shake is both noun and verb.
You may also want to explore the very active “Interpreting a Nod and a Shake“.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Shake | Sheik |
|---|---|
Shake Tache by terobin is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. |
President Bush Meets with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is in the public domain courtesy of the White House. — Yep, as the son of a ruling Arab family, he’s a sheik. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: shakes Third person present verb: shakes |
Noun
Plural: sheiks |
| As a gesture, shake means no
Noun: An act of rocking, swaying, etc.
[Informal; the shakes; usually preceded by the] A fit of trembling or shivering, as caused by fear, fever, cold, etc.
[Informal; short for milk shake] A beverage in which the ingredients are mixed using short, jerky movements The act or a manner of clasping another’s hand in greeting, agreement, etc. [Informal] Chance or fate
[Gambling] A cast of the dice Something resulting from a sharp, jerky movement [Geological] An earthquake
A fissure in the earth An internal crack or fissure in timber caused by wind or frost An instant
[Carpentry] A shingle or clapboard formed by splitting a short log into a number of tapered radial sections with a hatchet [Horology; in an escapement] The distance between the nearer corner of one pallet and the nearest tooth of the escape wheel when the other pallet arrests an escapee tooth A dance deriving from the twist [Slang] The dried leaves of the marijuana plant [Music] A trill Verb, intransitive: [Of a structure or area of land] Cause to tremble, vibrate, or sway with short, quick, irregular vibratory movements
Move (an object) up and down or from side to side with rapid, forceful, jerky movements
To totter
To clasp another’s hand in greeting, agreement, congratulations, etc. [Music] To execute a trill Upset the composure of
Verb, transitive: To move (something or its support or container) to and fro or up and down with short, quick, forcible movements
To dislodge or dispense (something) by short, quick, forcible movements of its support or container To cause to sway, rock, totter, etc. To agitate or disturb profoundly in feeling To cause to doubt or waver
[Music] To trill (a note) To mix (dice) by rolling in the palm of the hand before they are cast To get rid of
[Australian slang; archaic] To steal |
An Arab leader, in particular the chief, patriarch, or head of an Arab tribe, family, or village
A leader in a Muslim community or organization A man in an Arab society who is important or wealthy
A venerable man of more than 50 years of age [Islam] A high priest or religious leader, especially a Sufi master
[Slang] A man held to be masterful and irresistibly charming to women |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: With a shake of its magnificent antlers, the stag charged down the slope. Camera shake causes the image to become blurred. Now add a few shakes of sea salt and black pepper. I wouldn’t go in there, it gives me the shakes. It’s no great shakes. That’ll be two chocolate and a sea salt caramel shake. The shakes continued for another hour. Shake was in use from the 16th to the 19th century, when it evolved into trill, consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart. He has a strong shake. It was a fair shake. He threw an eight on his last shake. That shake was a nine on the Richter scale. We are experts at repairing shakes, cracks, and fissures in existing structural timbers. It’ll just take a shake. We’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, sweetie. Real cedar shake shingles suffer from a variety of weathering, durability, and safety issues that affect natural wood over time. There’s an end shake in that arbor. C’mon, baby, let’s shake it. Dude, got some shake? Verb, intransitive: Buildings shook in Sacramento and tremors were felt in Reno. Sand shakes off easily. Shake before using. His arms were shaking from the effort. Let’s shake and be friends again. The passage shook with a shake. I stood there, crying and shaking with fear. Verb, transitive: A severe earthquake shook the area. Don’t forget to shake that bottle of chocolate milk. Luke was shaking with rage. Her voice shook with passion. She stood in the hall to shake out her umbrella. Don’t forget to shake the sand out of your shoes. He gently shook the driver awake, and they set off. Shake a stick at him. He’ll back down. Men shook their fists and shouted. The wind shook the old tree. He was unable to shake off the memories of the trenches. Rumors of a further loss shook the market. The fall shook him up quite badly. He had to shake himself out of his lethargy. We shook nuts from the tree. It will shake the very foundations of society. The experience shook him badly. Such action shakes one’s self-esteem. Remember to shake that passage in the third movement. C’mon, Max. Shake the dice already! They tried to shake their pursuers. |
May I introduce Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahyan?
A Bedouin sheik is assisted by an informal tribal council of male elders. An intimate group of senators and sheiks dined together at Le Cirque. Years ago, a group of us were paid to coach rugby to young Arab sheikhs in Bahrain. The sheikh in that village is the leader of the local sports club. Shi’ite sheikhs could represent their small tribal constituencies, just as Sunni sheikhs could represent their followers. “The death of Sheikh Rashid, eldest son of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed, has shone a light on the high-spending, party-mad lifestyles of Arab playboys like him” (Sykes). Rudolph Valentino set up our perceptions of the dashing sheik in his 1921 film The Sheik. Omar Sharif played Sheikh Riyadh in Hidalgo. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: shakable, shakeable, unshakable, unshakeable, unshaken, well-shaken Adverb: unshakablely, unshakeablely Noun: shake-up, shakedown, shakeout, shaker, Shaker, Shakerism, shakeup, shook Verb: reshake, reshook, reshaken, reshaking |
Adjective: sheiklike Noun: cheikh, shaik, shaikh, shayk, shaykh, sheikh, sheikhdom, shekh, shykh |
| Phrasal Verb | |
| shake down shake off shake on shake out shake someone down shake someone off shake someone up shake something down shake something off shake something out shake something up shake up |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Old English sc(e)acan and the Old Saxon skakan is from the Old High German untscachōn meaning to be driven, and related to the Old Norse skaka meaning to shake.
In the late 14th century, it evolved to the Middle English schaken to mean charge, onrush. In the 1560s, it came to mean a hard shock. In the 1580s, it included an act of shaking. In the 1620s, nervous agitation. In the 1660s, an irregular vibration. In 1712, it became a handshake. 1816 included both as a figure of instantaneous action and the dismissive phrase no great shakes. In 1830, a new England vulgarism arose meaning an honest deal, i.e., a fair shake. 1911 shortened up the milk shake. |
Late 16th century, based on the Arabic šayḵ meaning old man, sheikh, from šāḵa meaning be or grow old. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Shake versus Sheik
Apple Dictionary.com
The Free Dictionary: shake
Oxford Dictionaries: sheik
Sykes, Tom. “Inside the Secret World of Arab Playboys.” The Daily Beast. 27 Sept 2015. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-secret-world-of-arab-playboys>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
The cropped and resized Shaikh Mohmmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Air Force by Tech. Sgt. Charlein C. Sheets, U.S. Air Force, is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
