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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

shrink away en · VERB

Etymology

shrink + away

Meanings

  1. To draw back in fear; cringe, back down, shy away.
    • But Tommy was bashful, and the attention he had thus drawn upon himself made him blush. He was a timid lad and he shrank away now, evidently fearing Shell. 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, chapter 1, in Baseball Joe on the School Nine:
    • Emily could be fearless enough on occasion; but in the presence of a nature which she instinctively felt to be hostile to hers she shrank away in something that was more repulsion than fear. 1923, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Chapter 8”, in Emily of New Moon:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
shrinks away Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
shrunk away Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
shrunk away Tense=Past lexicographic
shrunken away Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
shrank away Tense=Past lexicographic
shrinking away Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (1)

eo retiriĝi foren (to draw back in fear; cringe, back down, shy away)