"give one's head a shake" meaning in English

See give one's head a shake in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-give one's head a shake.ogg Forms: gives one's head a shake [present, singular, third-person], giving one's head a shake [participle, present], gave one's head a shake [past], given one's head a shake [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|give<,,gave,given> one's head a shake}} give one's head a shake (third-person singular simple present gives one's head a shake, present participle giving one's head a shake, simple past gave one's head a shake, past participle given one's head a shake)
  1. (idiomatic, Canada) To reassess the common sense of one's behaviour, ideas, etc. Tags: Canada, idiomatic
    Sense id: en-give_one's_head_a_shake-en-verb-A0gyhMPK Categories (other): Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> one's head a shake"
      },
      "expansion": "give one's head a shake (third-person singular simple present gives one's head a shake, present participle giving one's head a shake, simple past gave one's head a shake, past participle given one's head a shake)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Canadian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 August 20, Joanne Chianello, “New program asks you to pass on the sodium”, in The Windsor Star:",
          "text": "If you're thinking about topping your burger with ketchup, mustard, relish and perhaps a couple of pickle slices, you might want to \"give your head a shake.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 August 19, Roxanne Hooper, “Please, keep the wilderness wild”, in The Record, New Westminster, British Columbia:",
          "text": "But give your head a shake, people. Stop pushing for Wi-Fi at campgrounds around B.C. The entire premise of going camping is to escape from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 December 5, Cam Cole, “Leafs lying scandal blown out of proportion”, in National Post:",
          "text": "Talk about focussing on the unimportant. Give your head a shake, Google.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To reassess the common sense of one's behaviour, ideas, etc."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_one's_head_a_shake-en-verb-A0gyhMPK",
      "links": [
        [
          "reassess",
          "reassess"
        ],
        [
          "common sense",
          "common sense"
        ],
        [
          "behaviour",
          "behaviour"
        ],
        [
          "idea",
          "idea"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, Canada) To reassess the common sense of one's behaviour, ideas, etc."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give one's head a shake.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/ff/En-au-give_one%27s_head_a_shake.ogg/En-au-give_one%27s_head_a_shake.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/En-au-give_one%27s_head_a_shake.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give one's head a shake"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given one's head a shake",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> one's head a shake"
      },
      "expansion": "give one's head a shake (third-person singular simple present gives one's head a shake, present participle giving one's head a shake, simple past gave one's head a shake, past participle given one's head a shake)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Canadian English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 August 20, Joanne Chianello, “New program asks you to pass on the sodium”, in The Windsor Star:",
          "text": "If you're thinking about topping your burger with ketchup, mustard, relish and perhaps a couple of pickle slices, you might want to \"give your head a shake.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 August 19, Roxanne Hooper, “Please, keep the wilderness wild”, in The Record, New Westminster, British Columbia:",
          "text": "But give your head a shake, people. Stop pushing for Wi-Fi at campgrounds around B.C. The entire premise of going camping is to escape from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 December 5, Cam Cole, “Leafs lying scandal blown out of proportion”, in National Post:",
          "text": "Talk about focussing on the unimportant. Give your head a shake, Google.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To reassess the common sense of one's behaviour, ideas, etc."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reassess",
          "reassess"
        ],
        [
          "common sense",
          "common sense"
        ],
        [
          "behaviour",
          "behaviour"
        ],
        [
          "idea",
          "idea"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, Canada) To reassess the common sense of one's behaviour, ideas, etc."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give one's head a shake.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/ff/En-au-give_one%27s_head_a_shake.ogg/En-au-give_one%27s_head_a_shake.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/En-au-give_one%27s_head_a_shake.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give one's head a shake"
}

Download raw JSONL data for give one's head a shake meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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