Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. forgetful, esp. used of an ex-prisoner whose mental state has been affected by prison or transportation.

1812

Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.

2. (Aus. / Irish / US) drunk.

1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 11 Mar. 3/3: A certain Teetotal gent. [...] entered a public-house the other night, quite ‘shuck’. The lady of the house refused drink to so drunk a man.
1845		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune (1847) 154: Unless I’m really shook, I always goes it in the bit houses – doggeries aint genteel.
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 338: Drunk; jarred; [...] well on; shook; inebriated.

3. (US, also shooked, shook out) highly excited, disturbed, frightened, upset; thus shook to the ruffin, extremely moved (see Ruffin, the n. (1)

1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 14 Oct. 3/2: Kelly [...] was somewhat smitten by the personal charms of his landlady. Mrs Sheedy is a tall, well-formed, florid complexioned matron [...] and Peter Kelly was, to use a slang Hibernianism ‘shook to the ruffin’.
1877		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (1st ser.) 10: ‘Oh! captain,’ said the old fellow, ‘I’m shuk [...] Me heart is broke’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Feb. 6/4: The more this annexation puddle is stirred the more malodorous it becomes. Long before Mr. Service penned his spread-eagle telegrams, our own Jack Robertson and Jimmy Martin had a tussle with it and were ‘shook out bad.’.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 56: She’s shook ter bits about yeh.
1910		P.W. Joyce Eng. As We Speak It In Ireland.
1914		G.A. England ‘Rural Locutions of Maine and Northern New Hampshire’ in DN IV:ii 79: shook, p.a. Startled, shocked, grieved. ‘Jed was pow’ful shook when Minervy pegged out.’.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 1: ‘You’re shook’ [...] ‘You’re not? [...] Three months out of P.I. and you’re a real old salt!’.
1958		H. Ellison Web of the City (1983) 96: We was near shook, man, we got so nervous.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 34: Telling him something [...] about his friend just having an accident and was still kinda shook.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 176: We better stay with him [...] He’s pretty shook.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 shook adj 1. shaken up, flustered. (‘Dude, you’re shook!’). [Ibid.] shooked adj 1. scared. Usually used to describe a fight. (‘He was shooked when that guy came after him.’).
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 82: This rottweiler [...] had everyone in the neighborhood all the way shook.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 7: You ain’t shook, are yu? You don’t seem the scary type.
2003		BlazinParadise ‘Blazing Squad Language’ 🌐 Shook – Scared.
2015		www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads Grime Terminology Guide 🌐 Shook – Scared.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 54: The brer [...] stays silent [...] shook to say anything.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] Robert Lee said he was real shook.