shrink - What does it mean?
'shrink' hits on the web
You may have been searching for a specific social media @shrink profile or the tag #shrink
Definition of 'shrink'English
Verb
To cause to become smaller.
- The dryer shrank my sweater.
To become smaller; to contract.
- This garment will shrink when wet.
* Francis Bacon
- I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room.
* Dryden
- And shrink like parchment in consuming fire.
To cower or flinch.
- Molly shrank away from the blows of the whip.
To draw back; to withdraw.
* Milton
- The Libya Hammon shrinks his horn.
(figuratively) To withdraw or retire, as from danger.
* Alexander Pope
- What happier natures shrink at with affright, / The hard inhabitant contends is right.
* Jowett (Thucyd.)
- They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task.
Synonyms
* (avoid an unwanted task) funk, shirk
Antonyms
* (to cause to become smaller) expand, grow, enlarge, stretch
* (become smaller) expand, grow, enlarge, stretch
Noun
( en-noun)
shrinkage; contraction; recoil
- Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink , / That I had less to praise. — Leigh Hunt.
(slang|sometimes|pejorative) A psychiatrist or therapist; a head-shrinker.
- You need to see a shrink .
- My shrink said that he was an enabler, bad for me.
* 1994 , (Green Day),
- I went to a shrink , to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing my down.''
Usage notes
* The slang sense was originally pejorative, expressing a distrust of practitioners in the field. It is now not as belittling or trivializing.
Synonyms
* head-shrinker
|