'Shrinking' definitions:
Definition of 'shrinking'
(from WordNet)
noun
Process or result of becoming less or smaller; "the material lost 2 inches per yard in shrinkage" [syn: shrinking, shrinkage]
noun
The act of becoming less
Definition of 'Shrinking'
From: GCIDE
- Shrinking \Shrink"ing\, a. & n. from Shrink. [1913 Webster]
- Shrinking head (Founding), a body of molten metal connected with a mold for the purpose of supplying metal to compensate for the shrinkage of the casting; -- called also sinking head, and riser. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Shrinking'
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]
Synonyms of 'shrinking'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- aloof,
- aseptic,
- atrophy,
- attenuation,
- backward,
- bashful,
- bashfulness,
- blank,
- boggle,
- boggling,
- chilled,
- chilly,
- cold,
- compunction,
- constrained,
- consumption,
- cool,
- cowardly,
- declining,
- demur,
- demurral,
- demurring,
- detached,
- diffidence,
- diffident,
- diminishing,
- discreet,
- distant,
- drying,
- drying up,
- dwindling,
- dying,
- ebbing,
- emaceration,
- emaciation,
- expressionless,
- fading,
- falter,
- faltering,
- fearful,
- fearing,
- fearsome,
- forbidding,
- frigid,
- frosty,
- goosy,
- guarded,
- hesitance,
- hesitancy,
- hesitant,
- hesitating,
- hesitation,
- icy,
- impassive,
- impersonal,
- in fear,
- inaccessible,
- introverted,
- jumpy,
- modest,
- modesty,
- mousy,
- nervous,
- objection,
- offish,
- Olympian,
- parching,
- pause,
- preshrinkage,
- protest,
- qualm,
- qualm of conscience,
- qualmish,
- qualmishness,
- quiet,
- rabbity,
- receding,
- recoil,
- remote,
- removed,
- repressed,
- reserved,
- restrained,
- reticent,
- retiring,
- retreating,
- Sanforizing,
- scary,
- scruple,
- scrupulosity,
- scrupulous,
- scrupulousness,
- searing,
- shaky,
- shivery,
- shrinkage,
- shriveling,
- shy,
- shyness,
- sinking,
- skittery,
- skittish,
- squeamish,
- standoff,
- standoffish,
- startlish,
- stickling,
- subdued,
- suppressed,
- thinning,
- timid,
- timorous,
- trembling,
- tremulous,
- trepidant,
- trigger-happy,
- unaffable,
- unapproachable,
- uncongenial,
- undemonstrative,
- unexpansive,
- ungenial,
- waning,
- wasting,
- withdrawn,
- withering