Dictionary

head-shrinker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Originally US, probably by reference to slang terms like “swelled head” for someone with delusions of grandeur; a psychiatrist would remove such delusions, thus figuratively shrinking the patient's swelled head.

Meanings

1. (slang) A psychiatrist or psychotherapist; a shrink.
   • DIESEL: In the opinion on this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home. ACTION: Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived. DIESEL: So take him to a headshrinker. 1957, West Side Story:
2. (literally) One who shrinks heads, as previously done by some Amazon tribes.
   • I listened to the sculptor of Dead Dad give an interview to a European television station while he crouched by the shrunken corpse of his own creation, a huge technical advance over the headshrinkers of New Guinea. 2010, Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It:

Forms

Synonyms

headshrink · trick cyclist · shrink

Translations (3)

hu fejzsugorító (one who shrinks the heads of the dead) · fi kallonkutistaja (one who shrinks the heads of the dead) · da hovedjæger (one who shrinks the heads of the dead)