▪ I. quake, n.
(kweɪk)
[f. the vb.]
1. a. The act of quaking or trembling; spec. in mod. use, an earthquake.
Rare as an independent n., except in very recent use, but not infrequent as the second element in combs., as church-, house-, ice-, kingdom-, state-quake, earth-quake. Now apprehended as a colloq. abbrev. of earthquake, and occas. written 'quake.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 27362 Þe dai o wreth, o quak, and soru. c 1340 Ibid. 927 (Trin.) Til þou turne aȝeyn in quake To þat erþe þou were of take. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. ii. 2 The quakes and shakes of Fortune. a 1643 Suckling Love's World in Fragm. Aurea (1648) 11 As the Earth may sometimes shake, (For winds shut up will cause a quake). 1812 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 35, I have some quakes for the poor country. 1881 Nature XXIV. 362 The great shock consisted of two quakes and several smaller, but distinct, vibrations. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 2/1 Even the most violent quakes in the vicinity of Mount Etna are rarely felt with any force across the straits. 1956 R. St. B. Baker Dance of Trees vii. 96 It was a serious 'quake though few people lost their lives. 1973 Express (Trinidad & Tobago) 1 Feb. 5/1 The quake shook Mexico City and nearby provinces. 1973 ‘D. Shannon’ No Holiday for Crime (1974) v. 83 Glasser's Ford had been demolished by the quake last August. 1976 Nigerian Chron. 18 Aug. 1/2 The epicentre of the quake appeared to be in the Celebes Sea, South-West of Mindanao. 1977 Time 3 Jan. 27 (caption) In May, a quake centered in the Northeastern Italian region of Friuli killed nearly 1,000. |
b. attrib. and Comb.
| 1931 Daily Express 21 Sept. 2/4 (heading) More 'quake shocks in Baluchistan. 1937 Discovery Feb. 63/1 Quake⁓proof reservoirs of water. 1960 Daily Tel. 27 May 14 Apparently the depth of the Pacific Ocean makes it specially liable to serve as a vehicle for these ‘quake waves’. 1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 21 Oct. 5/5 A 36-year-old business executive built a concrete quake-proof shelter in his yard. |
2. A stretch of quake-ooze.
| 1896 Blackw. Mag. May 770 They rose in a body and made for the quakes. |
▪ II. quake, v.1
(kweɪk)
Forms: inf. 1 cwacian, (cwaec-, cuaec-), 2–3 quakie(n, (2 kwak-, 3 cwak-, 4 quakiȝen, 4 quaky), 4–5 quaken, (5 qvakyn, whakyn), 4–6 qwake, 4– quake, (4 quak, quack, 5 qvake, 5– north. whake, 5–6 Sc. quaik, 9 Sc. quack, quauk). pa. tense 1 cwęcede, cwaecade, cwacode, 3 cwakede, 3–4 quakede, 4– quaked, (4 -id, 6 Sc. -et); also north. 4–5 quok, (4 qwok, quock), 4–6 quoke, quook, qwooke, 5 Sc. quouk, quowke, 6 quooke, Sc. qu(h)oik, quuik, 7 dial. whook't.
[OE. cwacian, not found in the cognate langs.; the stem cwac- is also the base of OE. cwęccan quetch, and the same initial combination occurs in other words implying agitation or instability, as quave, quap, quag (cf. note to quagmire). The strong form of the pa. tense in northern dialects is on anal. of shake, shook.]
1. intr. Of things: To shake, tremble, be agitated, as the result of external shock, internal convulsion, or natural instability.
Most frequently used, from the earliest period, with ref. to the earth (cf. earthquake), and now somewhat rare even in this connexion.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter ciii. 32 Se ᵹelocað in eorðan & doeð hie cwaecian. c 893 K. ælfred Oros. ii. vi. §3 Ofer eall Romana rice seo eorþe wæs cwaciende & berstende. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 143 Eorþe scal kwakien on his ecsene. c 1205 Lay. 27111 Þa wal of stanen [sculden] quakien and fallen. a 1300 Cursor M. 7260 He it scok, Sua fast þat al þe hus quok. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clix. (1495) 708 The Byrche..meuyth and quakith wyth a ryght softe blaste of wynde. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. x. (1513) E v, I fele also My penne quake, and tremble in my honde. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. x. 34 The land all haill of Itaile trumbillit and quhoik. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. viii. 129 Erdquakes..war hard, kirkes quaket and trimblet vehementlie. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xii, With boughs that quaked at every breath, Grey birch and aspen wept beneath. 1871 Rossetti Love's Nocturn vii, Quakes the pall, And the funeral goes by. |
2. Of persons or animals, or parts of the body: To shake, tremble. a. By reason of cold or other physical cause. Now rare.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 132 Ða teð cwaciað on swiðlicum cyle. Ibid. II. 312 Ic..cwacode eal on fefore. a 1225 Juliana 21 [He] inwið bearnde of brune..& cwakede as of calde. a 1300 Cursor M. 5196 Israel wit þis vplepp..þat quak [v.r. quake] wit ilka lim was won. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 46 Carful mon may crien..Bothe of hungur and of thurst, and for chele quake. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxviii. 70 When I for care and colde qwoke by a fyre burnyng full bright. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. lviii. Skrymmorie fery gaue me mony a clowre For Chyppynutie ful oft my chaftis quuik. 1555 Eden Decades 12 Suche as inhabyte the mountaynes, syt quakynge for coulde in the wynter season. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. iv. 5, [I] quake in the present winters state, and wish That warmer dayes would come. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 385 [She] Retires, content to quake so they be warm'd. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxvii. (1856) 338 Came back again, dinnerless, with legs quaking. |
b. Through fear. Freq. to quake for fear or dread; also to quake at, † quake for (the object of dread), and for (a thing or person in danger).
| a 900 Cynewulf Crist 797 Þonne cene cwacaþ, ᵹehyreð cyning mæðlan. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke viii. 47 Þæt wif..cuaccende [Rushw. cwacende] cuom, & ᵹefeall fore fotum his. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1534 Þe king..bigon to cwakien & nuste hwet seggen. a 1300 Cursor M. 12837 For drednes ilk lim him quok. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 10726 Tounes, castels, for hym þey quok. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 132 For verray feere so wolde hir herte quake That on hire feet she myghte hire noght sustene. c 1460 Towneley Myst. vii. 182 Euery man shall whake and gryse Agans that ilk dome. 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 32 They reuerence them, and qwake at their presence. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 68 Yoong children..With cold hert moothers, for Greekish victorye quaking. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars vi. lxxxvii, That ne'er quayles me, at which your greatest quake. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen xlvii. 154 At which time..the Devill will quake, yea he doth quake for feare now. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 44 ¶1 The sounding of the Clock in Venice Preserved, makes the Hearts of the whole Audience quake. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. viii. Wks. 1813 II. 52 The fellow in the study stood quaking and trembling. 1800 Wellington Let. to Lieut. Col. Close in Gurw. Desp. (1837) I. 103, I quake for the fort at Munserabad. 1847 J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) II. 22 Our heart quaked too desperately to suffer us to shriek. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 18 His name was a terror that made the dead quake in their graves. |
| refl. a 1300 Cursor M. 19633 (Gött.) Saul him quok, sua was he rad. |
† c. With anger. Obs. rare.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 292 Þe kyng his wordes toke wraþefully tille herte, For ire nere he quoke. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. iii. 94 (Camb. MS.) Yif he be distempre and quakith for Ire, men shal weene þat he bereþ the corage of a lyon. |
† 3. trans. To cause to quake. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. x. v. (1495) 377 A full lytyll puffynge of wynde quakyth and styryth flamme. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. ix. 6 Where ladies shall be frighted, And gladly quak'd, heare more. 1614 H. Greenwood Jayle Deliv. 468 The property of the Law is to humble and quake us for our sins. 1639 Heywood Lond. peaceable Est. Wks. 1874 V. 372 Cannon..Quaking the bellowing Ayre. |
4. Comb., as † quake-belly, a fat-bellied person; † quake-breech, -buttock, one wanting in courage; † quakeful a., causing fear or quaking; quake grass = quaking-grass; † quake-mire, a quagmire; also as v., to quagmire; quake-ooze, soft trembling ooze; quake-tail Ornith. (see quot. 1894).
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. 223 They will all forsooth be alike, the tall man as the short, the *Quack-belly as the Scranio. |
| c 1590 in Drake Secr. Mem. Earl Leicester (1706) 118, I shall surely be *Quack-breech and think every Bush a Boggle. 1616 Withals Dict. 400 Excors,..a faint hearted fellow, a quake-breech. |
| a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Wit at Sev. Weap. i. i, Stand putting in one foot, and shiver,..like a *quake-buttock. |
| 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy xiii. xxxii, All imbrude in fight, His *Quakefull hand and sword so often rearing. |
| 1814 O. Rich Synopsis Genera Amer. Plants 10 Briza..*Quake Grass. 1909 Daily Chron. 25 June 7/2 We used to call 'em ‘quake grass’, and ‘cats' tail’. |
| 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1807–8) VI. 21 He was forced to fasten the *quakemire with hurdels, and upon them to build the citie. 1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. ii. 70 a, His horse was gotten into a quackmyre. 1599 Chapman Hum. dayes Myrth Plays 1873 I. 73 Howe nowe my liege! what, quackemyred in Philosophie. |
| 1898 Daily News 23 Nov. 6/2 Over a lot of *quake-ooze flats, where a boat could not get. |
| 1855 Ogilvie Imp. Dict. Suppl. *Quake-tail. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds, Quake-tail, a book-name invented for the Yellow Wagtail and its allies, after they had been generically separated from Motacilla as Budytes. |
▪ III. † quake, int. and v.2 Obs.
Also Sc. 6 quaik, 8 -ck.
[Imitative: see quack, and cf. Du. kwaken, G. quaken to croak, quack.]
= quack int. and v.
| a 1529 Skelton E. Rummyng 506 Quake, quake, sayd the duck. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The dukis cryit quaik. 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 83 A quakinge chete or a red shanke, a drake or ducke. 1785 Burns Addr. Deil viii, An eldritch, stoor quaick, quaick. |