Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive & transitive verb To become or make shrunken and wrinkled, often by drying.
- intransitive & transitive verb To lose or cause to lose vitality or intensity.
- intransitive & transitive verb To become or make much less or smaller; dwindle.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To contract; draw or be drawn into wrinkles; shrink and form corrugations, as a leaf in the hot sun, or the skin with age.
- Synonyms To shrivel is to become wrinkled or corrugated by contraction; to shrink is, as a rule, to contract while preserving the same general form.
- To contract into wrinkles; cause to shrink into corrugations.
- To make narrow; limit in scope.
- To wither; blight; render impotent.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To draw, or be drawn, into wrinkles; to shrink, and form corrugations; ; -- often with
up . - transitive verb To cause to shrivel or contract; to cause to shrink onto corruptions.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
collapse inward; tocrumble . - verb intransitive To become
wrinkled .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb wither, as with a loss of moisture
- verb decrease in size, range, or extent
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Okay, why did my brain shrivel to the size and consistency of a pea after two kids and you just had a baby and show no signs of “baby brain” at all.
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But consider yourself lucky: if I were really to blog about our sex life you KNOW that your testicles would shrivel from the embarassment.
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He even used "going forward," a term to shrivel the heart of anyone toiling at a corporation that values meaningless management-talk.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed John Doyle 2011
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He even used "going forward," a term to shrivel the heart of anyone toiling at a corporation that values meaningless management-talk.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed John Doyle 2011
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We have seen that with porn channels in cable situations where finally they kind of shrivel up a little bit.
CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: What Is the State of Journalism? - March 31, 2000 2000
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Developers and equipment manufacturers, among others, would have no leverage on price, would see their markets shrink and their profits shrivel.
Art Brodsky: Labor Leader's Lament: 'Where Are the Jobs' AT&T Promised? Art Brodsky 2011
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Developers and equipment manufacturers, among others, would have no leverage on price, would see their markets shrink and their profits shrivel.
Art Brodsky: Labor Leader's Lament: 'Where Are the Jobs' AT&T Promised? Art Brodsky 2011
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Developers and equipment manufacturers, among others, would have no leverage on price, would see their markets shrink and their profits shrivel.
Art Brodsky: Labor Leader's Lament: 'Where Are the Jobs' AT&T Promised? Art Brodsky 2011
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The bottom line is that the seed of humanity in each of us can grow more vibrant with love or can shrivel through neglect.
Vivian Glyck: What Christian Bale Taught Me About Parenting Vivian Glyck 2011
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The bottom line is that the seed of humanity in each of us can grow more vibrant with love or can shrivel through neglect.
Vivian Glyck: What Christian Bale Taught Me About Parenting Vivian Glyck 2011
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