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.