shrink
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to draw back, as in retreat or avoidance.
to shrink from danger; to shrink from contact.
-
to contract or lessen in size, as from exposure to conditions of temperature or moisture.
This cloth will not shrink if washed in lukewarm water.
-
to become reduced in extent or scope.
- Antonyms:
- increase
verb (used with object)
-
to cause to shrink or contract; reduce.
-
Textiles. to cause (a fabric) to contract during finishing, thus preventing shrinkage, during laundering, of the garments made from it.
noun
-
an act or instance of shrinking.
-
a shrinking movement.
-
shrinkage.
-
Also called head shrinker. Slang. Also a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or psychoanalyst.
verb
-
to contract or cause to contract as from wetness, heat, cold, etc
-
to become or cause to become smaller in size
-
-
to recoil or withdraw
to shrink from the sight of blood
-
to feel great reluctance (at)
to shrink from killing an animal
-
noun
-
the act or an instance of shrinking
-
slang a psychiatrist
Related Words
Other Word Forms
- nonshrinkable adjective
- nonshrinking adjective
- nonshrinkingly adverb
- overshrink verb
- shrinkable adjective
- shrinker noun
- shrinking adjective
- shrinkingly adverb
- unshrinkable adjective
- unshrinking adjective
- unshrinkingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of shrink
First recorded before 900, and in 1955–60 shrink for def. 9; Middle English schrinken, Old English scrincan; cognate with Middle Dutch schrinken, Swedish skrynka “to shrink,” Norwegian skrukka “old shrunken woman”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
