mover and shaker
idiom

- one who wields power and influence in a sphere of activity

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

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WORD ORIGIN

The phrase "mover and shaker" was first popularised in the 1970s, but stems from the 1874 collection of poems "Music and Moonlight" by the minor English poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy. Called "Ode," the first poem in the collection begins with the following lines:

We are the music-makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams.
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.

In 1971, in the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (based on the Roald Dahl novel Charley and the Chocolate Factory), the following conversation takes place between factory owner Willy Wonka and a spoiled little rich girl, Veruca Salt:

Willy Wonka: "The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozzberries taste like snozzberries."
Veruca Salt: "Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry?"
Willy Wonka: "We are the music makers... and we are the dreamers of dreams."

In his fantasy world, Willy Wonka fancied himself a mover and shaker. It seems odd that this phrase was adopted a century later. But it's now commonly used to refer to people who wield power and influence. It implies someone who gets things done by virtue of their position, power, knowledge and/or contacts.

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Practice OWAD in a conversation:

"We'll need some MOVERS AND SHAKERS to get this project finished by the deadline."