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.]
   To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to become compacted.
   1913 Webster
   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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   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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   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.
   To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by immersing it in boiling water.
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   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.
   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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   [Contraction of head-shrinker, a colloquial term for psychiatrist.] a psychiatrist. [Coll.]
   PJC