| 释义 |
▪ I. shrink, n.
[f. shrink v.]
1. a. An act of shrinking, flinching, cowering, etc.: † a shrug.
1590Sir J. Smythe Disc. Weapons 23 b, After the first shrinck at the entring of the bullett. 1594Daniel Cleopatra (Bang) 1729 Not a yeilding shrinke, or touch of feare Consents now to bewray least sence of paine. c1645Howell Let. to Capt. T. P. 1 Aug. 1622, He [the Spaniard] never speaks of her [Queen Elizabeth] but he fetcheth a shrink in the shoulder. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. Introd. 11, I saw a visible shrink in all Orders of Men among us, from that Greatness..which was in the first Grain, that our God brought from Three sifted Kingdoms, into this Land. a1728Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils (1729) I. i. 230 A Shrink, or Contraction, in the Body since 'twas first form'd. 1832L. Hunt Poems 179, I..almost wish with sudden shrink, That I had less to praise. 1880L. Wallace Ben-Hur 178 The shiver and shrink with which the sitter caught sight of him.
b. spec. in Textiles, the reduction in dimension of a fibre or fabric, usu. caused by treatment with water.
1947J. T. Marsh Introd. Textile Finishing ix. 244 Modern anti-shrink treatments are based on..two methods.
2. A psychiatrist. Cf. head-shrinker s.v. head n.1 74. slang (orig. U.S.).
1966T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 i. 16 It was Dr Hilarius, her shrink or psychotherapist. 1969C. Young Todd Dossier 78 What you've written may prove helpful. That's what the man said, the shrink. 1973Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 31 Aug.–6 Sept. 1434/1 A number of value judgments were offered..by a couple of the shrinks. 1978M. Walker Infiltrator iii. 39 He could have gone to a pricey shrink who would have certified him too delicate for the Army. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Oct. 117/2 It does not take a shrink to see that a man so humanly flawed and artistically inept has got to be a loser.
3. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) shrink-proofing, shrink-resistance, shrink treatment; shrink-controlled, shrink-proof, shrink-resist, shrink-resistant adjs.
1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes ii. 31 Controlled sheets of rubber with shrink-controlled material in the centre of the plate. 1969Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring/Summer 44/2 Shrink-controlled..cotton.
1928Shrink-proof [see colour-fast s.v. colour n.1 19]. 1965A. J. Hall Stand. Handbk. Textiles (ed. 6) v. 307 In recent years three important shrinkproof treatments have come into use.
1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics ii. 11 The work is based fundamentally on the shrinkproofing of wool. 1963A. J. Hall Textile Sci. v. 236 (heading) Shrink-resist finishes for cellulose fibre fabrics.
1958Times 20 Oct. 13/2 This tweed has been woven for the school..and tested for washability, shrink-resistance. 1967Shaw & Eckersley Cotton xv. 131 (heading) Dimensional stability (shrink resistance).
1946A. J. Hall Stand. Handbk. Textiles v. 275 (caption) Sanforising machine for making fabric shrink resistant in washing. 1973Times 9 Apr. 6/3 The main terms covered by the new standard will be..‘shrink resistant’, ‘crease shedding’.
1954A. J. Hall Standard Handbk. Textiles (ed. 4) v. 280 The well-known London shrink treatment is widely used to remove residual stretch in a wool fabric.
▪ II. shrink, v.|ʃrɪŋk|
Pa. tense shrank |ʃræŋk|, pa. pple. shrunk |ʃrʌŋk|. Forms: 1 scrincan, 2–3 scrinke(n, 3–5 schrinke, 4–6 schrynke, shrynke, 5–6 s(c)hrynk, schrenk(e, (4 scrynke, schryngke, scherenke, shrynge, 6 shren(c)k(e, shryng, shrinck, schrink, scrincke), 6–7 shrinke, 6– shrink. pa. tense 1 scranc (pl. scruncon), 4 schrank, 5 schranke, 6–7 shranke, 7– shrank; 4 schronk, 5–7 shronke, 6 shroncke, shroonke, shrounke, 6–7 shronk, shrun(c)ke, 7– shrunk; weak. 6 Sc. schrinket, -it, 6– (now dial.) shrinked. pa. pple. 1 (ᵹe)scruncen, (-scrungen), 2 scrunken, 4 schrunken, 4–5 shronken, 7 shruncken, 6– shrunken; 5–6 shronke, 6 shroonke, shruncke, 6–7 shroncke, shrunke, 6– shrunk; weak. 6 Sc. schrenkit.
[OE. scrincan (pa. tense scranc, scruncon, pa. pple. ᵹescruncen) = MDu. schrinken (only in Kilian as obs. Flem.; ? from Eng.), Sw. skrynka to wrinkle (MSw. skrunkin pa. pple. shrivelled, wrinkled), Norw. skrekka, skrøkka (pa. tense skrakk, skrokk, pa. pple. skrokken, skrokket). The causative is shrench v.1
The pa. tense originally had vowel change I shrank, we shrunke(n, but, as early as the 14th c., the properly plural form is found with a singular subject, and shronk, shrunk becomes frequent in the 15th c.; shrunk is the normal pa. tense in the 18th c., and still survives. The pa. pple. shrunken is now rarely employed in conjugation with the vb. ‘to have’; see also shrunk, shrunken.]
I. Intransitive senses.
†1.
a. To wither or shrivel through withdrawal of vital fluid or failure of strength. Obs.
[c893ælfred Oros. iii. ix. §3 Þa for þæm ciele him ᵹescruncan ealle þa ædra.] c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 204 Hy [male and female pennyroyal] blowaþ ðonne nealice oþre wyrta scrincaþ & weorniað. Ibid. III. 48 Seonuwa fortoᵹene & ða tan scrinceð up. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 411 Þanne his senewes gonne to schrynke [MS. γ schryngke]. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) II. 497 His synewis shronke and withdrewe them. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. i. H ij, My chekes that hanged syde downe, do shrynke awaye. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 40 Fruit gathred too timely..wil shrink. 1611Bible Gen. xxxii. 32 The children of Israel eate not of the sinewe which shranke.
b. To pine away. Obs. rare.
c1205Lay. 2278 Þer fore þu scalt scrinkin [c 1275 deȝe]. a1586Sidney Ps. xl. vii, Though I in want be shrinking, Yet God on me is thinking.
2. a. To become reduced in size, volume, or extent; esp. to contract through heat, cold, or moisture. Also with up, away.
c1275Sinners Beware 245 in O.E. Misc. 80 Heo schule in helle Euer schrinke and swelle. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xi. 347 If..the lethir..were of such kinde that it wolde daili schrinke. 1530Palsgr. 705/2 If these bordes shrinke, all my purpose is marred. 1616R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 143 The grownd on the W. side our new gadong did shrink with the extreme rayne. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. cclxvi, We..shrink like parchment in consuming flame. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth i. ii. 19 After these waters had rag'd for some time on the Earth, they began to lessen and shrink. 1742tr. Heister's Surg. (1768) II. 10 Those [polypuses] which are recent will sometimes shrink and disappear by repeated Punctuation. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 337 The pyrometric pieces of clay..the more they are heated, the more they shrink in all their dimensions. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. vi. (1858) 270 The modern town has very much shrunk within its ancient limits. 1877Huxley Physiogr. 151 When a body of water is cooled, it shrinks in bulk. 1887Hall Caine Deemster xl, Sometime a house had stood there, but..it had shrunken in some settlement of the ground.
b. Of a textile fabric: To contract when wetted. Phr. to shrink in the wetting (chiefly pass.): app. orig. said proverbially of cloth manufactured in some northern counties; hence allusively and fig. of anything that is damaged or depreciated in value.
1483Act 1 Rich. III, c. 8 Preamble, Whiche Clothes so shorn er they be wett..most of werrey necessite shrynk. 1511–2Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 Cloth..which when it shalbe full wette shall shrynke more than oon yerd in all the lenght. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus iv. vi. U iv, It is peryshed .i. it is shrunk in the wetynge. 1577–87Harrison England ii. v. 158 in Holinshed, Their..ambitious titles are now decaied and worthilie shroonke in the wetting. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus R iij b, To perswade you not to shrinke in the wetting, but like a Kentish cloth..stande inuiolated. 1592Nashe Strange Newes D 1 Three of his sonnes universally ridiculouslie reputed of... The fourth is shrunke in the wetting, or else the Print shoulde haue heard of him. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 63 The first is merry drunk,..although his braines be somewhat shrunk I' th' wetting. 1653R. Carpenter (title), The Anabaptist washt and washt, and shrunk in the washing. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 28 'Tis York-shire Cloath, you know, that shrinks i' th' wetting! 1727Boyer Dict. Royal s.v., A Stuff that shrinks. 1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 292/1 Patent flannel, which does not shrink in washing.
3. To draw the limbs together, bring the body into a small compass; to cower, huddle together; (of the body) to contract as with pain or cold; (of a plant) to shrivel or curl up under a blasting or withering influence.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 436 Þa wearð se cyning [viz. Belshazzar] to ðan swiðe afyrht, þæt he eal scranc. c1300Pol. Songs (Camden) 158 Heo cometh by modered ase a mor-hen, Ant scrynketh for shome. c1440Promp. Parv. 449/1 Schrynkyn, rigeo. 1530Palsgr. 705/2 Be nat a frayde, I shall shrinke so lowe that he shall nat spye me. c1572Gascoigne Hearbes Wks. 1869 I. 382 The tender plant..In winter shrinks and shrowdes from euery blast. 1592Breton Pilgr. Parad. xiv, An vnwildy trunke..With weight whereof, their shoulders often shruncke [printed thruncke]. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 9 Till I shrinke with cold. 1601W. Leigh Soules Solace (1617) 18 At last shrinking downe againe, he [the sick man] gaue a sigh. 1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ii. (1626) 29 Distressed Atlas shoulders shrinke with payne. 1680Revenge iv. ad. fin., I'll make him shrink with fear, ere I have done. 1782Cowper Poet, Oyster, & Sens. Plant 35 When I bend, retire, and shrink. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxiii, Isaac shrunk together, and was silent. 1841T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (1871) 115 If..any point of its surface be rudely touched, the whole animal does not immediately shrink. 1847Tennyson Princess v. 444 Her small goodman Shrinks in his arm-chair. 1891Kipling Light that Failed xiv, Bessie remained in his arms shrinking.
4. a. In immaterial sense: To be contracted or reduced in extent; to be drawn together into certain limits.
c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xi. 347 Bicause that thilk lijflode wolde continueli schrinke. 1566Gascoigne Jocasta ii. i, When disdayne is shrunke or sette asyde. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 150 Are all thy Conquests, Glories, Triumphes, Spoiles, Shrunke to this little Measure? 1667Dryden Maiden Queen i. ii, When, after all his Eagerness of two Minutes before, he shrinks into a faint Kiss, and a cold Compliment. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 223 All her Plumes Fall flat and shrink into a trivial toy. 1742Blair Grave 728 Each Earth-born Joy grows vile, or disappears, Shrunk to a Thing of Nought. 1796Burke Regic. Peace i, To make England, inclined to shrink into her narrow self, the arbitress of Europe. 1856Kingsley Misc. (1859) II. 36 How the poor soul would shrink back into nothing before that lion eye. 1911T. S. Holmes Chr. Ch. Gaul iii. 66 This influence increased as the extent of the imperial authority in Gaul steadily shrank.
†b. To fail. Obs. rare.
1608Wotton in Cal. St. Papers, Irel. 655 He has done well to bring her to Rome, in case all other means should shrink.
5. a. To move backward, retire, or retreat into a cavity, shelter, or place of refuge; to draw oneself or itself in. In first quot. app. † to sink deep.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2313 Þe scharp schrank to þe flesche þurȝ þe schyre grece. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 1837 Lych hornys of a lytell snayl, Wych..for a lytel strawh wyl shrynke. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 48 Another let flee at the lorde Standley, which shronke at the stroke..as shortely as he shranke yet ranne the blood aboute hys eares. 1521Fisher Serm. agst. Luther ii. Wks. (1876) 323 The trees whan they be wydred and theyr leues shaken from them and all the moystour shronke in to the rote. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 325 This done our Lady shranke againe into her shrine. 1606Marston Parasit. iv. G 4 b, Her sometimes enuious lips, now shrink in, and giue her nose and her chin leaue to kisse each other. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 710 A twigge..growing vp to a yong tree: which when they offered to pluck vp, it shrunke downe into the ground. 1627W. Hawkins Apollo Shroving iii. i. 37 Shrinke in while I buckle it, that you may bee gaunt and fine in the wast. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 682 Teach me..Why flowing Tides prevail upon the Main, And in what dark Recess they shrink again. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, Till I shrink into my cell again for terror of the sound. 1826S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 330 The eye then shrinks into the orbit. 1830Tennyson Poet's Mind 37 It [a fountain] would shrink to the earth if you came in.
fig.1861Reade Cloister & H. lxxvii, Jorian from that moment shrunk in and became impenetrable as a hedgehog.
†b. To fall or come away from. Obs.
1688Holme Armoury iii. 355/2 The side of a Timber House shrunk from its Mortesses.
6. a. To withdraw from a place or position, esp. in a secret or furtive manner; to turn aside, away, back, etc. furtively or nimbly; to slip or slink away. Now rare.
14..Sir Beues (Sutherld. MS.) 1857 Fro þe ȝates he wyl not shrynke, Tyl he haue both mete and drynke. 1530Palsgr. 705/2 He craked afore we came hyther that he wolde do marvaylles, but nowe he is shronke asyde no man can tell whyther. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) John v. 13 Iesvs shronke aside from the multitude. 1587T. Underdown tr. Heliodorus (1895) 202 When shee had thus done, shee woulde have shrunke away. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks 1038 The Hungarians were almost all shrunk home. 1605Chapman All Fooles i. i, Gost. Who was that Shrunke at my entry here?.. Ryn. He shrunke not, sir, his busines call'd him hence. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 255 They took it, and shrunk away so in the throng, I could never hear more of it. 1825Scott Betrothed ii, He shrunk from the hall to the seclusion of his own convent. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. v, Mayor Bailly..gladly shrinks within doors. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlvii, After she had borne a couple of sons, [she] shrank away into a life of devout seclusion.
†b. to shrink out of the collar: to back out, esp. of an enterprise. Obs.
1636R. Brathwait Rom. Emp. 383 Some powerfull Protestant commanders..who shrunk out of the coller of obedience. 1667Pepys Diary 7 May, Sir W. Pen, like a false rogue, shrinking out of the collar,..so that the whole odium must fall on me.
†c. Naut. Of the wind: ? To blow fitfully or in gusts. Obs.
1627Capt. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 39 The wind shrinkes, that is, when you must take in the Spretsaile, and get the tacks aboord. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 10 The Winds shrank upon us from off the Coast of Ginea. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 21 When the Gale of Good Fortune shrinks he alters his course. 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 36 The Wind shrinking, and blowing off the Island in Squals.
7. a. To draw back or give way so as to avoid physical contact or conflict; to recoil through physical weakness or lack of courage or with abhorrence from.
1513Douglas æneis x. viii. 115 Pallas, nocht schrynkand for the mortale dynt. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1550) 160 Notwithstandyng that the Romaynes shot great ordinaunces,..yet the Imperiall persones neuer shranke, but manly entered the Bulwarke. 1656Burton's Diary (1828) I. 265 He put out his tongue very willingly, but shrinked a little when the iron came upon his forehead. 1670Milton Hist. Eng. v. 237 It is shamefull for a King to boast at Table, and shrink in fight. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 49 Shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away, thy children leave the land. 1794M. Wollstonecraft View Fr. Rev. I. 133 Is it then surprising, that a very desirable woman, with a sanguine constitution, should shrink abhorrent from his embraces? 1809W. Irving Knickerb. vi. viii, Wherever he went, the enemy shrank before him. 1821Scott Kenilw. iv, She shrunk back from his grasp. 1862Calverley Verses & Transl. (1894) 64 Streets, which foot of traveller shrinks from, As on hot plates shrinks the bear. 1892Gardiner Student's Hist. Eng. 14 The soldiers were terrified and shrunk back.
†b. To give way; to collapse. Obs.
1590Spenser F.Q. iii. xii. 10 He..nicely trode, as thornes lay in his way, Or that the flore to shrinke he did auyse; And on a broken reed he still did stay His feeble steps, which shrunke, when hard theron he lay. 1607Shakes. Cor. v. iv. 20 The ground shrinkes before his Treading. c1610Women Saints 194 Reason being conquered by the excesse of sorrowe shruncke. 1616R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 128 Our new wall..shronk soe it was this day..puld downe.
8. a. To refuse or hesitate to act in the face of anything irksome, grievous, horrible, or distasteful; to recoil mentally or morally.
c1470Gol. & Gaw. 1077 The sege that schrenkis for na schame, the schent might hym schend. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxvii. 29 The telȝouris hairt a littill schrenkit. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxii. 8 His herte is stablished, he wil not shrencke. 1576Gascoigne Grief of Joy Ded., I will then shrinke for no paynes untill I have..touched all the common places of mans perylous pleasures. a1628Preston New Covt. (1634) 300 A man perhaps will beare many things for Religion, but if it come to death, there he shrinkes. 1784Cowper Task vi. 513 Fancy shrinks..at the thought Of such a gulph as he design'd his grave. 1821Shelley Adonais liii, Why linger, why turn back, why shrink, my Heart? 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 515 There was much which might make good men shrink and hesitate.
b. freq. const. from (often governing a gerund).
1565J. Phillip Patient Grissell 859 No Tarquins knight, ne Appian now, shall cause mee shrinke from duetie due. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 311/30 To cause him suerue or schrink fre ony pairt of his faitht in Christ Jessus. 1741–2Gray Agrip. 48 Then was the time To shrink from danger. 1813Sk. Char. (ed. 2) i, I am convinced there are many, who would shrink from coming out in the manner you have described. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. Prol., Who hath cumbered the world with his devices, but shrunken from the responsibility thereof. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. 115 There was no sacrifice from which French policy so instinctively shrank. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 285 Opinions, which he never shrunk from expressing. 1912Times 19 Oct. 7/4 The policy of exclusion from which the Board of Agriculture has shrunk.
c. const. at.
1576Gascoigne Droome Doomesday Wks. 1910 II. 431 If thou perceyve any man to shrynke at death when it commeth. a1625Fletcher Hum. Lieut. i. i, I have seen him do such things, belief would shrink at. 1732Pope Ess. Man ii. 229 What happier natures shrink at with affright. 1780Mirror No. 71 That delicacy which made him..shrink at the idea of asking a pecuniary favour. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. xiv, The abbot would not shrink at inflicting upon me the death due to an apostate nun. 1839Hood John Day xiv, At last he made a vow To break his being's link; For he was so reduced in size At nothing he could shrink.
d. const. inf.
1544Betham Precepts War ii. lxxiii. L viij b, For the encrease of his renowme, they wyll not shrynke: to bestowe and spende theyr lyfe. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. 43 Nor shrynke ye to take paynes. 1602Heywood Wom. Killed w. Kindn. v. i, He would not shrinke to spend a thousand pound, To giue the Mountfords name so deepe a wound. 1869F. W. Newman Misc. 107 Novelists do not shrink to tell the form of a hero or heroine's features. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 23 Would I shrink to learn my life-time's limit—days, weeks, months or years?
†9. To be a deserter or rebel; to fall away from duty or allegiance, or from a person. Obs.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 62 Your Sister would not dooe her duetie, but shranke awaie. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 123 They can not forsake nor shrynke from the true doctrine. Ibid. 276 b, Whan he was gone, the fellowes of that conspiracie, shranke away immediatly. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. 118 Such as shrinked were to be vpholden and cured. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 222 Ile play the Ease-dropper, To heare if any meane to shrinke from me.
II. Transitive (mainly causative) senses.
10. a. To cause to contract or be reduced in size, volume, or extent; to cause to contract by moisture, heat, or cold; to cause (a limb, sinew, plant) to wither or (the skin) to wrinkle. Also with up.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. cxxxv. (1495) 538 An herbe namyd Apium risus: that drawe and shrynke jawes of men. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 62 Ellez walld þai schrenk þe stomake. a1530J. Heywood Wether 978 (Brandl), I loue no launders that shrynke my gere in wettynge. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 156 To shrinke mine Arme vp like a wither'd Shrub. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pestle iii. 12 Let them..Start at a shadow, and shrink up their bloud. 1637Milton Lycidas 133 Return Alpheus, the dread voice is past, That shrunk thy streams. 1646Crashaw Sospetto d' Herode xxii, That the Great Angell-blinding light should shrinke His blaze, to shine in a poore Shepherds eye. 1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 155 If the Rain wet them, instead of shrinking them, it will swell them. 1680C. Nesse Ch. Hist. 172 God shrank his sinews, and makes him stand like an antick statue. 1712–14Pope Rape Lock ii. 132 Alum styptics with contracting pow'r Shrink his thin essence like a rivel'd flow'r. 1832Tennyson Mariana in South v, The steady glare Shrank one sick olive sere and small. 1866Redgrave Cent. Painters II. 602 The moisture of the paste shrinks the spot of canvas to which it is applied. 1875F. T. Buckland Log-bk. 57 A human head which has by some process or other been shrunk to about the size of a large orange.
b. spec. To treat (a textile material) with water so that it may not shrink after it is made up.
1856[see shrinking vbl. n. 1 b]. 1883‘Sylvia’ Lady's Guide Dressmaking 122 Braid is the best trimming for..frocks. It should always be ‘shrunk’ before being put on the dress.
c. Mech. To cause (a piece, e.g. the tyre of a wheel, the jacket of a cannon) to be fixed tightly on (to) another (which it is intended to fit) by heating it, slipping it into place when sufficiently expanded, and then rapidly cooling it. Also with on (adv.) and occas. absol.
1839Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 449/1 To make the wheel in the usual way and then shrink the railway tire..upon it. 1861Russell in Times 26 Oct., A simple..piece of artillery, with a thick iron band shrunk on over the breach. 1889Pall Mall Gaz. 25 June 2/1 Krupp began with solid guns and found himself obliged to come to the English system of building up guns by the shrinking on of hoops. At the present time France, Germany, Italy, and Russia shrink as we do.
d. transf. To reduce in number. rare.
1832C. M. Goodridge Voy. S. Seas 65 We endeavoured to shrink them [sc. mice] by destroying immense quantities.
11. To draw (the body, the limbs, oneself) into a smaller compass.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. i. (1868) 5 Sche constreynede and schronk hir seluen lyche to þe comune mesure of men. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Tropheis 1081 Her Alabastrine well-shapt Limbs shee shrinks. 1649Davenant Love & Hon. ii. ii, The chaste Indian plant, That shrinks and curles his bashfull leaves at the Approach of man. 1705Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 100 A modest Man, if he was somewhat Taller than his Neighbors, would chuse to shrink himself into the Dimensions of the Company. 1712Addison Spect. No. 303 ⁋13 The Multitude and Rabble of Spirits immediately shrunk themselves into a small Compass. 1875Morris æneid xii. 861 Her body huge she shrank.
12. In immaterial sense: To reduce to smaller limits or compass.
1628Feltham Resolves ii. vii. 16 'Tis the sawcie seruant, that causes the Lord to shrinke his descending fauours. 1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 176 That were a phrase to shrink the glorious omnipresence of God speaking, into a kind of circumscriptive absence. 1812Cary Dante, Purg. ix. 44 Thy strength Shrink not, but rise dilated. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. viii. ii, Logical cobwebbery shrinks itself together. 1891J. Martineau Ess. & Addr. IV. Pref., If to the dwarfed and altered thought I had tried to shrink the grand old language.
†13. To cause to withdraw or disappear; to draw in (the horns, the claws); also with back, up. Hence in allusive phr. signifying withdrawal from a position of prominence, from an undertaking, etc.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 300 And þough he erst hadde poured vp and doun, He was þo glad his hornes yn to shrynke. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 2199 Cometh Schame anoon..And causeth Loue hornys for to schrynke. 1594Kyd Cornelia iii. i, The cheerefull Cock..Doth sing to see how Cynthia shrinks her horne. 1596Edw. III, i. i. 138, I will make you shrinke your snailie hornes! 1608D. T[uvill] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 57 b, The Lyon is a Lyon, though he shrink vp his clawes. 1629Milton Hymn Nativ. xxii, The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn. 1642D. Rogers Naaman 24 My wretched..soule may provoke thee to shrinke in thy graces. 1642–4Vicars God in Mount 76 The rest (who more wisely shrunk-in their heads, and recanted their former oversight). 1681Dryden Span. Friar iii. ii, The Devil..puts out his Horns to doe a mischief, and then shrinks 'em back for safety, like a Snail into her shell. 1713Young Last Day ii. 301 To make the Sun shrink in his beam.
14. a. To draw (the head, the hand, etc.) aside, back, or away in a furtive, ashamed, or retiring manner. Now rare.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 257 Whan bayard sawe Mawgis, he began to shrynke his eeres [orig. etreindre les oreilles]. 1575Gascoigne Flowers Wks. 1907 I. 65 To sitte a side and shrinke His harbraind head with out dame dainties dore. 1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 166 b, He had shrunke his head out of the coller of those insupportable paines. 1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii. ad fin,. The Riuer..Shrunke his graue head, beneath his siluer waues. 1615Chapman Odyss. xx. 455 Thus snatcht he..a Neats foot, And threw it at Vlysses: who, his head Shrunke quietly aside. c1620Fletcher, etc. Lover's Progr. i. i, We made them shun us, And shrink their rugged heads. 1880Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 64 She shrank her hand back.
†b. to shrink in the neck: to flinch, recoil.
1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 124 One of them asked him what she was: who poore man shrinking in his neck, said he knew her not. 1705Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. iii. 13 When did they refuse to lay their Throat fair, or shrink in their Neck at the dispatching blow?
†c. = shrug v. to shrink up (occas. in) one's shoulders: to shrug one's shoulders; fig. (with at) to regard with displeasure, aversion, or indifference.
1605Wotton in Life & Lett. (1907) I. 336 They shrink up the shoulder, as if it were a greater matter than we are aware of. c1645Howell Lett. (1754) 115 Among others that shrink in the Shoulders at it. 1676Packet Adv. Men Shaftesb. 76 If ye talk of State-Commodities, they shrink the shoulder, and say nothing. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 543 He shrunk up his Shoulders at it. 1720― Capt. Singleton iv. (1840) 61 They shrunk up their shoulders, as Frenchmen do.
†15.
a. To shun, avoid. Obs.
1513Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 61 The schipman schrenkis the schour, and settis to schore. 1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. 34 In this last byckring I shrunck no danger or hazard. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 392 Gratianus..as yet but a stripling..shrunke not five souldiors. 1688Holme Armoury iii. xvii. (Roxb.) 118/2 A man resolued to abide the utmost hazard of Battle, and not to shrink his aduersary.
b. to shrink collar: = 6 b. Obs. rare.
1579–80North Plutarch (1595) 907 He began..to rowse himselfe, and to lift vp his head: but he shrunke choller againe soone after.
†16. To quit. Obs. rare.
1594Lyly Mother Bombie iv. ii, Thou knowest wee are towne borne children, and wil not shrinke the citie.
17. Comb. shrink film = shrink-wrap n.; shrink fit = shrinkage fit s.v. shrinkage 4; shrink-ring, a ring of metal that is shrunk on; a ring in a structure that bears the strain of expansion and shrinkage.
1967Times Rev. Industry May 76/3 Shrink film: as a replacement for fibre-board cartons in containing canned and bottled goods during distribution. 1969L. S. Mounts in W. R. R. Park Plastics Film Technol. v. 124 Shrink films are sealed by special point sealers, hot wire..or impulse.
1882Amer. Machinist 8 Apr. 9/1 How much should be allowed in making a shrink fit of a wrought iron crank to the shaft? 1941L. S. Marks Mech. Engineer's Handbk. (ed. 4) 923 Shrink fits are used in places where a force fit would be difficult to assemble, as for example, locomotive wheel tires. 1970K. Ball Fiat 600, 600D Autobook i. 16/1 The starter ring is a shrink-fit on the flywheel.
1902–3Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. XXXII. 419 Well-made shrink-ring jointed cast-steel flywheels. Ibid. 410 To cast the boss in sections and have two very heavy shrink rings round the boss. |