shrinkern.
/ˈʃrɪŋkə/, U.S. /ˈʃrɪŋkər/ 1. One who shrinks or recoils from the truth, from duty, danger, or the like; in the 16th cent. one who shrinks from the faith of the Gospel or its obligations. (Cf. shrinking adj. 2a.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > undutifulness > undutiful person > [noun] > avoiding
shrinker1554
shirker1799
shirk1818
funker1826
gold brick1905
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > [noun] > falling away from duty > one who
shrinker1554
recreant1570
decliner1601
lapser1695
1554 J. Knox Godly Let. sig. C viij Too fearfull shrinkers from the truthe, for feare of worldly troble.
1564 Briefe Exam. ******ij You shal not neede to terme your betters..to be enemies or shrinkers.
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 2303/1 Rich. Denton, a shrinker from the Gospell.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. xiv. 239 Another is a shrinker, another halfe a papist.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Tergiversateur, a flincher, shrinker, starter.
c1635 in Roxburghe Ballads (1887) VI. 433 We are no cowardly shrinkers, but English-men true bred.
1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth V. 62 A good Ale drinker; He never was a Shrinker.
2. A person employed in shrinking materials in various manufacturing processes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > one who or that which decreases anything
shortener?1566
abater1583
abator1592
diminutive1596
reductivea1676
reducer1894
shrinker1921
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker performing process or spec. task > [noun] > who stretches or shrinks
stretcherc1420
shrinker1921
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §190 Tyre shrinker.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §384 Crabber; cloth shrinker, potter, shrinker,..tends crabbing machine, which passes cloth, at a suitable tension, through weighted rollers in a succession of troughs of water,..where it is expanded or reduced to a specified width.
1960 Classif. of Occup. (General Register Office) 99/2 Shrinker and dyer.
Draft additions 1993
3. A psychiatrist, = headshrinker n. 2; hence extended to other specialists working in related disciplines. Cf. shrink n. 2. slang.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > psychiatrist
mad-doctor1697
head-doctor1850
mind-curer1856
psychiater1857
alienist1864
psychopath1864
psychiatrist1869
mind-curist1889
trick-cyclist1897
soul doctor1922
loony-doctor1925
witch doctor1930
psych1946
headshrinker1950
wig-picker1961
shrink1966
shrinker1967
1967 M. M. Glatt et al. Drug Scene in Great Brit. 117 (Gloss.) Shrinker,..psychiatrist.
1975 S. Bellow Humboldt's Gift 161 Lawsuits and psychoanalysis were real. As for the lawyers and the shrinkers, they were delighted with him.
1980 J. B. Hilton Anathema Stone x. 102 It had to be the clinic for her. Maybe they'd left it too late; or maybe she was too clever for the shrinkers.
1983 People 14 Feb. 123/1 It took me a couple of years with a shrinker to develop a protective covering.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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