shrew
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L27053 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ʃɹuː/ / /ʃɹɪu̯/
noun
Etymology: 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”).
- Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.
- Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews.
- An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold.
“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.”
“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.”
verb
Etymology: 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.
- To beshrew; to curse.
“I shrew myself.”