Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
shake-down
also shakedown, 1730, "impromptu bed made upon loose straw," from verbal phrase; see shake (v.) + down (adv.). Meaning "forced contribution" (1902) is from the verbal phrase in a slang sense "blackmail, extort" (1872). Meaning "a thorough search" is from 1914; perhaps from the notion of measuring corn. The oldest use of the verbal phrase shake down is "cause to totter and fall" (c.1400).
Wiktionary
shake-down
n. (alternative spelling of shakedown English)
Usage examples of "shake-down".
Then, there had been some point in going ashore, some sense in the way they spent their time: now there was just this sort of place, and a shake-down in a glorified doss-house, and a cup of tea and a meat-pie at the corner cafe.