| 单词 | shrew |
| 释义 | shrew (once / 3693 pages) n Use the noun shrew — at your own risk — to refer to a woman who is argumentative, nagging, and ill tempered. The noun shrew can also refer to a mouse-like animal with tiny eyes, a long snout, and a sharp bite. Superstitions associated with this small mammal led people in the thirteenth century to use the word shrew to describe a spiteful person, male or female. The word later came to be used to describe a nagging, ill-tempered woman, as in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Unless you are a famous dead author, however, you may want to steer clear of this one in conversation: it’s considered offensive. WORD FAMILYshrew: shrewish, shrews+/shrewish: shrewishest, shrewishly, shrewishness USAGE EXAMPLESShe was a shrew, enabled all Bill’s sinning. Washington Post(Dec 15, 2016) They’re usually mice or shrews, already doomed, not by anything obvious—they haven’t been run over, there are never any teeth marks on them. The New Yorker(Dec 17, 2016) A common trope in films of the time was that of the "spoilt shrew tamed by the hero". BBC(Dec 05, 2016) 1n small mouselike mammal with a long snout; related to moles Syn|Hypo|Hyper shrewmouse Sorex araneus, common shrew common American shrew Sorex cinereus, masked shrewcommonest shrew of moist habitats in North America Blarina brevicauda, short-tailed shrewNorth American shrew with tail less than half its body length water shrewany of several small semiaquatic shrews usually living near swift-flowing streams Cryptotis parva, least shrewsmall brown shrew of grassy regions of eastern United States American water shrew, Sorex palustriswater shrew of North America European water shrew, Neomys fodienswidely distributed Old World water shrew Mediterranean water shrew, Neomys anomalusa type of water shrew insectivore small insect-eating mainly nocturnal terrestrial or fossorial mammals 2n a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman Syn|Hypo|Hyper termagant virago a noisy or scolding or domineering woman yenta(Yiddish) a vulgar shrew; a shallow coarse termagant disagreeable woman, unpleasant woman a woman who is an unpleasant person |
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