different between quake vs teeter

English

Etymology

From Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwak?n? (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?og- (“to shake, swing”), related to Old English cwe??an (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin v?x? (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kwe?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Noun

quake (plural quakes)

1. A trembling or shaking.

   We felt a quake in the apartment every time the train went by.

2. An earthquake, a trembling of the ground with force.

   California is plagued by quakes; there are a few minor ones almost every month.

Translations

Verb

quake (third-person singular simple present quakes, present participle quaking, simple past and past participle quaked or (archaic) quoke or (obsolete) quook)

1. (intransitive) To tremble or shake.
   • 1575-86, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

     Dorus threw Pamela behind a tree; where she stood quaking like the partridge on which the hawk is even ready to seize.
2. (intransitive, figuratively) To be in a state of fear, shock, amazement, etc., such as might cause one to tremble.

   • Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

   • 1598-99, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act I, Scene I

     If Cupid have not spent all his quiver in / Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.

   • 1599-1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene II

     Now could I drink hot blood / And do such bitter business as the bitter day / Would quake to look on.

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 2, Act IV, Scene VIII

     Who honours not his father, Henry the fifth, that made all France to quake, Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by.

   • Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and carefulness.

Derived terms

• quakebreech
• quakebuttock
• Quaker

Translations

German

Pronunciation

Verb

quake

1. inflection of quaken:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative
   3. first/third-person singular subjunctive I

Middle English

Verb

quake

1. Alternative form of quaken

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ti?t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?tit??/, [?t?i??]

Etymology

Alteration of titter.

Verb

teeter (third-person singular simple present teeters, present participle teetering, simple past and past participle teetered)

1. (intransitive) To tilt back and forth on an edge.

   He teetered on the brink of the precipice.
2. (figuratively) To be indecisive.

   We teetered on the fence about buying getaway tickets and missed the opportunity.

3. (figuratively) To be close to becoming a typically negative situation.

   Despite appearances, the firm was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Derived terms

• teeterer
• teeter-totter
• teeterboard

Translations

Noun

teeter (plural teeters)

1. (Canada, US) A teeter-totter or seesaw.

Anagrams

• terete