give someone a shake—(coll.)
1. shake a sleeper to rouse him:
- I thought he was sleeping, so I gave him a shake to wake him.
2. rouse smb. to action:
- Danny was not playing as well as he is now at the start of the season. We needed some way to give him a shake.
3. make a person suffer a nervous shock:
- It gave me such a shake as I never had before; I haven’t felt like myself ever since.
Note: The expression is not related in meaning to the phrase give someone a fair shake—(coll.) give smb. fair treatment:
- The man did not believe that the judge would give him a fair shake at his trial.
give someone the shake —(coll.) get away or escape from a person without his noticing:
- “Do you think he followed you?” “I gave him the shake in the crowd.”