Shrink

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Shrink \Shrink\, v. i. [imp. {Shrank}or {Shrunk}p. p. {Shrunk}
     or {Shrunken}, but the latter is now seldom used except as a
     participial adjective; p. pr. & vb. n. {Shrinking}.] [OE.
     shrinken, schrinken, AS. scrincan; akin to OD. schrincken,
     and probably to Sw. skrynka a wrinkle, skrynkla to wrinkle,
     to rumple, and E. shrimp, n. & v., scrimp. CF. {Shrimp}.]


     1. To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract
        into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to
        become compacted.
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              And on a broken reed he still did stay
              His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he
              lay.                                  --Spenser.
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              I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes,
              will shrink or draw into less room.   --Bacon.
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              Against this fire do I shrink up.     --Shak.
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              And shrink like parchment in consuming fire.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              All the boards did shrink.            --Coleridge.
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     2. To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action
        from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress.
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              What happier natures shrink at with affright,
              The hard inhabitant contends is right. --Pope.
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              They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank
              from the task.                        --Jowett
                                                    (Thucyd.)
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     3. To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body,
        or part of it; to shudder; to quake. [R.] --Shak.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Shrink \Shrink\, n.
     1. The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil;
        withdrawal.
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              Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink,
              That I had less to praise.            --Leigh Hunt.
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     2. [Contraction of head-shrinker, a colloquial term for
        psychiatrist.] a psychiatrist. [Coll.]
        [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Shrink \Shrink\, v. t.
     1. To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by
        imersing it in boiling water.
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     2. To draw back; to withdraw. [Obs.]
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              The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn.    --Milton.
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     {To shrink on} (Mach.), to fix (one piece or part) firmly
        around (another) by natural contraction in cooling, as a
        tire on a wheel, or a hoop upon a cannon, which is made
        slightly smaller than the part it is to fit, and expanded
        by heat till it can be slipped into place.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  shrink
       n : a physician who specializes in psychiatry [syn: {psychiatrist},
            {head-shrinker}]
       v 1: wither, especially with a loss of moisture; "The fruit dried
            and shriveled" [syn: {shrivel}, {shrivel up}, {wither}]
       2: draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they
          showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: {flinch}, {squinch},
           {funk}, {cringe}, {wince}, {recoil}, {quail}]
       3: reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink
          the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" [syn: {reduce}]
       4: become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The
          balloon shrank" [syn: {contract}] [ant: {expand}, {stretch}]
       5: decrease in size, range, or extent; "His earnings shrank";
          "My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me"
          [syn: {shrivel}]
       [also: {shrunken}, {shrunk}, {shrank}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  193 Moby Thesaurus words for "shrink":
     Sanforize, abate, ablate, about the bush, ache, agonize, ail,
     analyst, anguish, attenuate, avoid, avoid the limelight, balk at,
     bate, be eaten away, beat around, beg the question,
     behavior therapist, blanch, blench, blink, blush unseen, boggle,
     clinical psychologist, compress, concentrate, condense, constrict,
     consume, consume away, contract, corrode, cower, cringe, crouch,
     crumble, decline, decrease, deliquesce, demur, deplete, depreciate,
     desiccate, die away, diminish, dissipate, dive, dodge, drain,
     draw back, draw in, dribble away, drift away, droop, drop,
     drop off, dry up, duck, dwindle, ebb, emacerate, emaciate,
     equivocate, erode, evade, fade, fade away, fall, fall away,
     fall back, fall off, fall short, falter, feel pain, feel the pangs,
     fence, fight shy of, flag, flinch, funk, go, go away, grimace,
     hang back, hang off, have a misery, have qualms, headshrinker,
     hedge, hem and haw, hesitate, hold off, huddle, hurt,
     hypnotherapist, jib, languish, lessen, let up, macerate,
     make bones about, melt away, move away, move off, narcotherapist,
     parch, parry, pause, pine, plummet, plunge, pound, preshrink,
     psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, psychoanalyzer, psychotherapeutist,
     psychotherapist, pull away, pull back, pull in, pull out,
     pussyfoot, put off, quail, recede, recoil, reel back, retire,
     retract, retreat, retrocede, run low, sag, scruple, sear,
     sheer off, shift, shift off, shoot, shrink back, shrink from,
     shrinker, shrivel, shrivel up, shy, shy at, shy away, shy off,
     sidestep, sink, slink, smart, squander, squinch, stand off, start,
     start aside, start back, step aside, stick at, stickle, strain,
     subside, suffer, swerve, tail off, thin, thrill, throb, tingle,
     turn aside, twinge, twitch, wane, ward off, waste, waste away,
     waver, weaken, wear, wear away, weasel, weasel out, weazen,
     widen the distance, wilt, wince, withdraw, withdraw from, wither,
     wizen, writhe