GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   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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2.       
   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.
   
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3.       
   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.]
   
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