quake

[kweyk] /kweɪk/

verb (used without object), quaked, quaking.

(of persons) to shake or tremble from cold, weakness, fear, anger, or the like:

He spoke boldly even though his legs were quaking.

(of things) to shake or tremble, as from shock, internal convulsion, or instability:

The earth suddenly began to quake.

noun

an earthquake.

a trembling or tremulous agitation.

Origin

before 900; Middle English; Old English cwacian to shake, tremble

Related forms

quakingly, adverb

unquaking, adjective

Synonyms

1. shudder. See shiver¹ . 2. quiver.

Examples from the web for quake

The deadly quake was the largest anywhere in the world that year.
It would have been invaluable to have had a half-hour's warning of that quake.
Yet people who had not even felt the quake found themselves swept out to sea minutes later.
In a high-rise building, expect the fire alarms and sprinklers to go off during a quake.
Post-quake rebuilding could threaten the endangered pandas' already shrinking natural habitat, according to experts.
The runway may be intact, but the control tower lost communications after the quake.
Extra-wide feet and rigid ankle brackets impart quake-worthy stability.
Most quake researchers cull the whale's booming calls from their seafloor recordings.
After the quake, the reactor had shut down and so the fuel rods had already begun their cooldown.
The quake games were the first popular games that were almost exclusively multiplayer.

British Dictionary definitions for quake

quake

/kweɪk/

verb (intransitive)

to shake or tremble with or as with fear

to convulse or quiver, as from instability

noun

the act or an instance of quaking

(informal) short for earthquake

Word Origin

Old English cwacian; related to Old English cweccan to shake, Old Irish bocaim, German wackeln

Word Origin and History for quake

Old English cwacian "quake, tremble, chatter (of teeth)," related to cweccan "to shake, swing, move, vibrate," of unknown origin with no certain cognates outside English. Perhaps somehow imitative. In reference to earth tremors, probably by c.1200. Related: Quaked; quaking.

early 14c., "a trembling in fear," from quake (v.). Rare except in combinations. Now usually as a shortening of earthquake, in which use it is attested from 1640s. Old English had the verbal noun cwacung "shaking, trembling."

quake in Technology

A string-oriented language designed to support the construction of Modula-3 programs from modules, interfaces and libraries. Written by Stephen Harrison of DEC SRC, 1993.