SHRINKING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Shrinking

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/ʃrˈɪŋkɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Shrink v. t. (past shrank; past part. shrunk; pres. part. shrinking)

To cause to contract or shrink; as, to shrink finnel by imersing it in boiling water.

To draw back; to withdraw. (Obs.) "The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn."

To shrink on (Mach.), to fix (one piece or part) firmly around (another) by natural contraction in cooling, as a tire on a wheel, or a hoop upon a cannon, which is made slightly smaller than the part it is to fit, and expanded by heat till it can be slipped into place.

Shrink v. i. (past shrank; past part. shrunk; pres. part. shrinking)

To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to become compacted. "And on a broken reed he still did stay His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he lay." "I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes, will shrink or draw into less room." "Against this fire do I shrink up." "And shrink like parchment in consuming fire." "All the boards did shrink."

To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress. "What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right." "They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task."

To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body, or part of it; to shudder; to quake. (R.)

noun

Shrinking n. A. & n. from Shrink.

Shrinking head (Founding), a body of molten metal connected with a mold for the purpose of supplying metal to compensate for the shrinkage of the casting; called also sinking head, and riser.

See images of 'Shrinking'

Etymology of 'Shrinking'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shrinking" Quotes from Famous Books

... mercy! but wait till I call Smith," cried the alarmed landlady, shrinking, yet eager to know the horribly interesting details of that tragedy. She ran breathless up-stairs on that errand, while Nettie went back to the door of the parlour, resolutely locked it, and took away the key. "Nobody ...

— The Doctor's Family • Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

... as Nature has given its periods to the stages of animal life, it has also set limits to all moral and political ascendency. While the city of the Medici is receding from its crumbling walls, like the human form shrinking into "the lean and slipper'd pantaloon," the Queen of the Adriatic sleeping on her muddy isles, and Rome itself is only to be traced by fallen temples and buried columns, the youthful vigor of America is fast ...

— The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas • James Fenimore Cooper

... hand, and who sidled and tottered through the mob, looking every one beseechingly in the face, as if in search of some chance consolation, some lost hope; modest young girls returning from long and late labor to a cheerless home, and shrinking more tearfully than indignantly from the glances of ruffians, whose direct contact, even, could not be avoided; women of the town of all kinds and of all ages—the unequivocal beauty in the prime of her womanhood, putting one in mind ...

— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 5 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... her with his two girls home in Germany, with all their thoughts on the war. He, too, was thinking of Chichi, fearing sometimes, that he might never see her again. In one of her trips from the castle to her home, Blumhardt called the child to him. She stopped before the table, timid and shrinking as though she felt a presentiment of danger, but making an effort to smile. The Prussian father meanwhile chatted with her, and patted her cheeks with his great paws—a sight which touched Desnoyers deeply. The memories of a pacific and virtuous life were rising above the horrors of war. ...

— The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... feel ten years older," he said, "even if I am but a boy! And here was I, before I began, shrinking and feeling that I should repent and be afraid to go. And now ...

— Marcus: the Young Centurion • George Manville Fenn

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