SHRINK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Shrink

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/ʃrɪŋk/ Listen

verb

Shrink v. t. (past shrank; past part. shrunk; pres. part. shrinking)

To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by imersing it in boiling water.

To draw back; to withdraw. (Obs.) "The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn."

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.

Shrink v. i. (past shrank; past part. shrunk; pres. part. shrinking)

To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to become compacted. "And on a broken reed he still did stay His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he lay." "I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room." "Against this fire do I shrink up." "And shrink like parchment in consuming fire." "All the boards did shrink."

To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress. "What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right." "They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task."

To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body, or part of it; to shudder; to quake. (R.)

noun

Shrink n.

The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil; withdrawal. "Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink, That I had less to praise."

A psychiatrist. (Coll.)

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Etymology of 'Shrink'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shrink" Quotes from Famous Books

... who can manage, like the man who can fight, must never shrink from an encounter. The knight must not ...

— Prince Otto • Robert Louis Stevenson

... the youth a look from under his bent brows, that made the young man shrink back in his chair, but in a moment the unpleasant expression went off, and a quiet smile stole over ...

— Mabel's Mistake • Ann S. Stephens

... should not agree," said the son, gently. "It is a pity that as a family our interests are so divided; but others have placed their interests against kith and kin, and, if duty called, I should have to do the same. I own that at present I shrink from the call, as the forces seem concentrated near my sister Annie's home. I wish she would come north, but that cannot be expected while her husband is in danger. He has command of an important position, but Sherman ...

— Miss Dexie - A Romance of the Provinces • Stanford Eveleth

... looked around with staring eyes. It was a young man who thus addressed her: he was grasping her arm and looking savagely at her. Evidently he was some relative, of whom she stood in awe, for with something like a gasp she seemed to shrink into herself, and then, gathering her clothes about her, slunk away ...

— Among the Brigands • James de Mille

... station. What a stroke of genius! a perambulating public assembling. This idea came to him from seeing a harpist make the trip from Havre to Honfleur, playing 'Il Bacio' all the time. Ah, one must look alive! The prefect does not shrink from any way of fighting us. Did he not spread through one of our most Catholic cantons the report that we were Voltairians, enemies to religion and devourers of priests? Fortunately, we have yet four Sundays before us, from now until the voting-day, and ...

— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

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