shakers

noun

1. a person or thing that shakes.
2. a container with a perforated top from which a seasoning, condiment, sugar, flour, or the like is shaken onto food.
3. any of various containers for shaking beverages to mix the ingredients: a cocktail shaker.
4. a dredger or caster.
5. (initial capital letter) a member of the Millennial Church, originating in England in the middle of the 18th century and brought to the U.S. in 1774, advocating celibacy, common ownership of property, and a strict and simple way of life: so called from their practice of shaking during religious services.

adjective

6. (initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a style of something produced by Shakers and characterized by simplicity of form, lack of ornamentation, fine craftsmanship, and functionality.

pl n

1. the Shakers an American millenarian sect, founded in 1747 as an offshoot of the Quakers, given to ecstatic shaking, advocating celibacy for its members, and practising common ownership of property

noun

1. a person or thing that shakes
2. a container, often having a perforated top, from which something, such as a condiment, is shaken
3. a container in which the ingredients of alcoholic drinks are shaken together

n.mid-15c., “one who or which shakes,” agent noun from shake (v.). Applied from 1640s (with capital initial) to various Christian sects whose devotional exercises often involved convulsions. The best-known, the American-based “Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing;” so called from 1784; the adjective with reference to furniture styles associated with these Shakers is recorded from 1866. Meaning “container for mixing cocktails, etc.” is recorded from 1868. Phrase movers and shakers is attested from 1874. A religious group that rose in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Shakers derived their name from a dance that was part of their religious ceremony. They lived in small, tightly knit communities and observed celibacy. see mover and shaker.