What does "Have a shake" mean?

[mckha489]

Here you go Lisa

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19290513.2.33?items_per_page=10&phrase=2&query=Have+a+shake+said+Mrs+berry&snippet=true

[LizzieL]

could it be a bit like 'shake a leg'?

which could be 'hurry up', 'get a move on' or possibly 'dance'.

The nature of the gathering or who the other attendees were might give more of a clue.

One of my grandmothers (from Yorkshire) would often say "get a shake on" when she meant to hurry up / get a move on

[Guy Etchells]

In Scotland we used to say "put a shake on" meaning hurry up.
Cheers
Guy

[lisalisa]

Here you go Lisa

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19290513.2.33?items_per_page=10&phrase=2&query=Have+a+shake+said+Mrs+berry&snippet=true

thank you 

1929 - so perhaps it's a 'catchy phrase' of the era connected with the dances of the 1920s, either that or an exhortation to 'look lively'.

I don't really know, just thinking out loud 

[LizzieL]

Looking at the newspaper report, it was middle of May, so it would be winter. Maybe she was holding the door open for her guests when they left, and didn't want them to linger in the doorway and let too much cold air in.

[lisalisa]

Looking at the newspaper report, it was middle of May, so it would be winter. Maybe she was holding the door open for her guests when they left, and didn't want them to linger in the doorway and let too much cold air in.

oh I like that 

[Charlie Bucket]

Thanks for everyone's help so far. I have been looking for the phrase in the BNA and also Trove - the Australian newspaper archive. Unfortunately the software often reads "have a share" as "have a shake".

[kiwihalfpint]

Looking at the newspaper report, it was middle of May, so it would be winter. Maybe she was holding the door open for her guests when they left, and didn't want them to linger in the doorway and let too much cold air in.

oh I like that 

That is what I thought ... perhaps it also meant give the body a shake, after all if they have been in a warm house, shaking your body up a bit before venturing outside in the cooler air in their winter coat. Just speculation

Cheers
KHP

[kiwihalfpint]

Deleted.