Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Shrink

Shrink (shrĭnk), 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.] 1. 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. Spenser.

I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room. Bacon.

Against this fire do I shrink up. Shak.

And shrink like parchment in consuming fire. Dryden.

All the boards did shrink. Coleridge.

2. 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. Pope.

They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task. Jowett (Thucyd.)

3. To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body, or part of it; to shudder; to quake. [R.] Shak.

Shrink, v. t. 1. To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by imersing it in boiling water.

2. To draw back; to withdraw. [Obs.]

The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn. Milton.

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, n. The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil; withdrawal.

Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink, That I had less to praise. Leigh Hunt.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.