What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between shake and jerk?

shake | jerk |

In transitive terms the difference between shake and jerk

is that shake is to lose, evade, or get rid of (something) while jerk is to give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.

In intransitive terms the difference between shake and jerk

is that shake is to dance while jerk is to make a sudden uncontrolled movement.

As verbs the difference between shake and jerk

is that shake is to cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly while jerk is to make a sudden uncontrolled movement.

As nouns the difference between shake and jerk

is that shake is the act of shaking something while jerk is a sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body.

shake

English

(wikipedia shake)

Verb

  • (ergative) To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
  • To move (one's head) from side to side, especially to indicate a negative.
  • To move or remove by agitating; to throw off by a jolting or vibrating motion.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Shake off the golden slumber of repose.
  • * (John Bunyan) (1628-1688)
  • I could scarcely shake him out of my company.
  • To disturb emotionally; to shock.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • To lose, evade, or get rid of (something).
  • To move from side to side.
  • *, chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking .}}
  • To shake hands.
  • To dance.
  • To give a tremulous tone to; to trill.
  • Derived terms

    * more than one can shake a stick at * shake a leg * shake and bake, shake 'n bake * shake hands * shake off * shake one's ass * shake one's head * shake on it * shake the pagoda tree * shake up

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of shaking something.
  • The cat gave the mouse a shake .
  • A milkshake.
  • A beverage made by adding ice cream to a (usually carbonated) drink; a float.
  • Shake cannabis, small, leafy fragments of cannabis that gather at the bottom of a bag of marijuana.
  • (building material) A thin shingle.
  • A crack or split between the growth rings in wood.
  • A fissure in rock or earth.
  • (informal) Instant, second. (Especially (in two shakes).)
  • *
  • (nautical) One of the staves of a hogshead or barrel taken apart.
  • (Totten)
  • (music) A rapid alternation of a principal tone with another represented on the next degree of the staff above or below it; a trill.
  • A shook of staves and headings.
  • (Knight)
  • (UK, dialect) The redshank, so called from the nodding of its head while on the ground.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Derived terms

    * in two shakes, in two shakes of a cow's tail, etc. * milk-shake * no great shakes * shakemap, shake map * shake table * shakeup, shake-up

    jerk

    English

    Etymology 1

    Probably from (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the body.
  • * 1856 , (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
  • The black cloth bestrewn with white beads blew up from time to time, laying bare the coffin. The tired bearers walked more slowly, and it advanced with constant jerks , like a boat that pitches with every wave.
  • A quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
  • When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk !
  • (US, slang, pejorative) A dull or stupid person.
  • (US, slang, pejorative) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, self-centered or disagreeable.
  • I finally fired him, because he was being a real jerk to his customers, even to some of the staff.
    You really are a jerk sometimes.
  • (physics, engineering) The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
  • (obsolete) A soda jerk.
  • (weightlifting) A lift in which the weight is taken with a quick motion from shoulder height to a position above the head with arms fully extended and held there for a brief time.
  • Usage notes
    (wikipedia jerk) * Jerk is measured in metres per second cubed (m/s3) in SI units, or in feet per second cubed (ft/s3) in imperial units.
    Synonyms
    * (sudden movement) jolt, lurch, jump * (quick tug) yank * (stupid person) numbskull * (unlikable person) asshole, bastard, twat, knobhead, tosser, wanker, git, dick. * jolt (British), surge, lurch
    Derived terms
    * jerkish * soda jerk

    See also

    * acceleration * displacement * velocity

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 23[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/23]
  • York came to me first, whilst the groom stood at Ginger's head. He drew my head back and fixed the rein so tight that it was almost intolerable; then he went to Ginger, who was impatiently jerking her head up and down against the bit, as was her way now.
  • To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
  • (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.
  • (obsolete) To beat, to hit.
  • (Florio)
  • (obsolete) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.
  • to jerk a stone
  • (usually, transitive, weightlifting) To lift using a jerk.
  • (obsolete) To flout with contempt.
  • Derived terms
    * jerk off * jerksome

    Etymology 2

    From American (etyl) charquear, from charqui, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (-)
  • (Caribbean) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade
  • (Caribbean) Meat cured by jerking; charqui.
  • Jerk chicken is a local favorite.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.
  • * 2011 , Dominic Smith, Bright and Distant Shores , page 106:
  • The Lemakot in the north strangled widows and threw them into the cremation pyres of their dead husbands. If they defeated potential invaders the New Irish hanged the vanquished from banyan trees, flensed their windpipes, removed their heads, left their intestines to jerk in the sun.