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shrew

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis) (def. 1)

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English *schrewe, from Old English sċrēawa (“shrew”), from Proto-Germanic *skrawwaz (“thin; meagre; frail”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut; shorten; skimp”). Cognates include Old High German scrawaz (“dwarf”), Norwegian skrugg (“dwarf”).

Noun

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shrew (plural shrews)

  1. Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.
  2. Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews.
  3. (derogatory) An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold.
    • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
      The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent. 'Rogue,' 'old miser,' 'old sneak,' and a great many worse names, she called him.
    • 1959, Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz:
      His wife was a shrew with warts on her face and she spoke to him sharply when others were present, but Simcha did not complain.
    • 1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 88:
      “Cease thy squalling, thou shrew!”
Usage notes
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The best-known use of the meaning 'ill-tempered woman' is probably from The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare.

Alternative forms
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Synonyms
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Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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terms derived from shrew (noun)
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English schrewen (“to make evil; curse”), from Middle English schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“wicked; evil; an evil person”), from Old English *scrēawa (“wicked person”, literally “biter”). Perhaps ultimately from the same word as Etymology 1 above.

Verb

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shrew (third-person singular simple present shrews, present participle shrewing, simple past and past participle shrewed)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To beshrew; to curse.

Anagrams

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