From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Shrink \Shrink\, v. i. [imp. {Shrank}or {Shrunk}p. p. {Shrunk}
or {Shrunken}, but the latter is now seldom used except as a
participial adjective; p. pr. & vb. n. {Shrinking}.] [OE.
shrinken, schrinken, AS. scrincan; akin to OD. schrincken,
and probably to Sw. skrynka a wrinkle, skrynkla to wrinkle,
to rumple, and E. shrimp, n. & v., scrimp. CF. {Shrimp}.]
1. To wrinkle, bend, or curl; to shrivel; hence, to contract
into a less extent or compass; to gather together; to
become compacted.
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And on a broken reed he still did stay
His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he
lay. --Spenser.
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I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes,
will shrink or draw into less room. --Bacon.
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Against this fire do I shrink up. --Shak.
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And shrink like parchment in consuming fire.
--Dryden.
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All the boards did shrink. --Coleridge.
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2. To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action
from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress.
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What happier natures shrink at with affright,
The hard inhabitant contends is right. --Pope.
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They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank
from the task. --Jowett
(Thucyd.)
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3. To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body,
or part of it; to shudder; to quake. [R.] --Shak.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Shrunken \Shrunk"en\,
p. p. & a. from {Shrink}.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
shrunken
adj 1: lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness;
"the old woman's shriveled skin"; "he looked shriveled
and ill"; "a shrunken old man"; "a lanky scarecrow of a
man with withered face and lantern jaws"-W.F.Starkie; "he
did well despite his withered arm"; "a wizened little man
with frizzy grey hair" [syn: {shriveled}, {shrivelled},
{shrunken}, {withered}, {wizen}, {wizened}]
2: reduced in efficacy or vitality or intensity; "our shriveled
receipts during the storm"; "as the project wore on she found
her enthusiasm shriveled"; "the dollar's shrunken buying
power" [syn: {shriveled}, {shrivelled}, {shrunken}]
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