shake down
"shake-down" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shake down” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To cause something to fall down by shaking it, or something it is attached to.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shake-down · shake down · English
shake down · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shake down |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shake down” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shake down is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for shake down, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is shake down, spelled S-H-A-K-E- -D-O-W-N.
Definition
- 1To cause something to fall down by shaking it, or something it is attached to.
- 2To shake someone so money falls from their pockets.
- 3To extort money from (someone) by means of threats.
- 4To search exhaustively.
- 5To subject something to a shakedown test.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shake down appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
shake down apples from an apple tree.
He left after shaking her down for four bits for carrying the bags.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.