Shrink
[ʃrɪŋk]
Definition
(verb.) become smaller or draw together; 'The fabric shrank'; 'The balloon shrank'.
(verb.) reduce in size; reduce physically; 'Hot water will shrink the sweater'; 'Can you shrink this image?'.
(verb.) decrease in size, range, or extent; 'His earnings shrank'; 'My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me'.
Checked by Juliana--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to become compacted.
(v. i.) To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress.
(v. i.) To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body, or part of it; to shudder; to quake.
(v. t.) To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by imersing it in boiling water.
(v. t.) To draw back; to withdraw.
(n.) The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil; withdrawal.
Checked by Hayes
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. [1]. Shrivel, contract, decrease, dwindle, wither.[2]. Recoil, blench, flinch, withdraw, swerve, draw back, give way, lack courage or resolution.
Inputed by Bertha
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Contract, shrivel, withdraw, retire, recoil, revolt
ANT:Stretch, expand, dilate, venture, dare
Typed by Elbert
Definition
v.i. to contract: to wither: to occupy less space: to become wrinkled by contraction: to recoil as from fear disgust &c.—v.t. to cause to shrink or contract: to withdraw:—pa.t. shrank shrunk; pa.p. shrunk.—n. act of shrinking: contraction: withdrawal or recoil.—adj. Shrink′able.—ns. Shrink′age a contraction into a less compass: the extent of the reduction of anything in bulk by shrinking evaporation &c.; Shrink′er.—adv. Shrink′ingly in a shrinking manner: by shrinking.
Checker: Mae
Examples
- But I must not shrink from a professional duty, even if it sows dissensions in families. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Fred felt an awkward movement of the heart; he had not thought of desk-work; but he was in a resolute mood, and not going to shrink. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Also--Sir Leicester seems to shrink in the shadow of his figure--also, to take a seat, if you have no objection. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- It was best that it should shrink and hide itself. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Don't shrink from anything I say. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- As I shrank away from such a visitor, he came forward and seized my candle. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Her simple little fancies shrank away tremulously, as fairies in the story-books, before a superior bad angel. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The chances and changes, the wanderings and dangers of months and months past, all shrank and shrivelled to nothing in my mind. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- But tonight every fibre in her body shrank from Lily's nearness: it was torture to listen to her breathing, and feel the sheet stir with it. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Miss Bart shrank from it slightly, and then flung herself into precipitate explanations. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- St. Clare was at last willing to call in medical advice,--a thing from which he had always shrunk, because it was the admission of an unwelcome truth. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- He shrunk behind the curtains, and called out very loudly-- 'Ha-hum! Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- If that were so, my sacrifice was nothing; my plainest obligation to her unfulfilled; and every poor action I had shrunk from, I was hourly doing. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- There was hair upon the end, which blazed and shrunk into a light cinder, and, caught by the air, whirled up the chimney. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- If he were ever a big old man, he has shrunk into a little old man; if he were always a little old man, he has dwindled into a less old man. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The duties of her married life, contemplated as so great beforehand, seemed to be shrinking with the furniture and the white vapor-walled landscape. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Do not mind shrinking openly from me, lady. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Shrinking to the furthest corner of the seat, he demanded to know what they wanted there. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- I don't know what you mean,' said Pleasant, shrinking a step back. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- To her parents she never talked about this matter, shrinking from baring her heart to them. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Who feels injustice; who shrinks before a slight; who has a sense of wrong so acute, and so glowing a gratitude for kindness, as a generous boy? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Compress t he large vein entering the heart, and the part intervening between the point of constriction and the heart becomes empty and the organ pales and shrinks. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- He, too, shrinks from them. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- His heart, exhausted by his early sufferings, reposes like a new-healed limb, and shrinks from all excitement. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- She shrinks from it as from something unholy, and such thoughts never found a resting-place in that pure and gentle bosom. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- They surrounded the shrunken empire of Constantinople on every side. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It is let off in sets of chambers now, and in those shrunken fragments of its greatness, lawyers lie like maggots in nuts. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- He then presented himself in a refulgent condition as to his attire, but looking indefinably shrunken and old. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- He almost thought that shrouds were for the old and shrunken; and that they never wrapped the young and graceful form in their ghastly folds. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- This accumulation would be at the expense of the sea, whose surface would thus be further shrunken in comparison with the land. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checker: Nathan