shrunken
['ʃrʌnkәn]
a. 缩
shrink去词



shrunken
[ adj ]

1. lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness

<adj.all>
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
he did well despite his withered arm
a wizened little man with frizzy grey hair

2. reduced in efficacy or vitality or intensity

<adj.all>
our shriveled receipts during the storm
as the project wore on she found her enthusiasm shriveled
the dollar's shrunken buying power

Shrunken \Shrunk"en\,
p. p. & a. from {Shrink}.


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.

And on a broken reed he still did stay
His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he
lay. --Spenser.

I have not found that water, by mixture of ashes,
will shrink or draw into less room. --Bacon.

Against this fire do I shrink up. --Shak.

And shrink like parchment in consuming fire.
--Dryden.

All the boards did shrink. --Coleridge.

2. 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. --Pope.

They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank
from the task. --Jowett
(Thucyd.)

3. To express fear, horror, or pain by contracting the body,
or part of it; to shudder; to quake. [R.] --Shak.