'Shrink' definitions:

Definition of 'shrink'

(from WordNet)
noun
A physician who specializes in psychiatry [syn: psychiatrist, head-shrinker, shrink]
verb
Wither, as with a loss of moisture; "The fruit dried and shriveled" [syn: shrivel, shrivel up, shrink, wither]
verb
Draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail]
verb
Reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" [syn: shrink, reduce]
verb
Become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The balloon shrank" [syn: shrink, contract] [ant: expand, spread out, stretch]
verb
Decrease in size, range, or extent; "His earnings shrank"; "My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me" [syn: shrink, shrivel]

Definition of 'Shrink'

From: GCIDE
  • Shrink \Shrink\, v. i. [imp. Shrankor Shrunkp. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • And on a broken reed he still did stay His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he lay. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • Against this fire do I shrink up. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • And shrink like parchment in consuming fire. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • All the boards did shrink. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress. [1913 Webster]
  • What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task. --Jowett (Thucyd.) [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body, or part of it; to shudder; to quake. [R.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Shrink'

From: GCIDE
  • Shrink \Shrink\, v. t.
  • 1. To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by imersing it in boiling water. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To draw back; to withdraw. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 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]

Definition of 'Shrink'

From: GCIDE
  • Shrink \Shrink\, n.
  • 1. The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil; withdrawal. [1913 Webster]
  • Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink, That I had less to praise. --Leigh Hunt. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. [Contraction of head-shrinker, a colloquial term for psychiatrist.] a psychiatrist. [Coll.] [PJC]

Synonyms of 'shrink'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Shrink'