shrink-wrap meaning: definition, etymology

shrink-wrap

noun

Etymology From shrink + wrap.

A plastic film that is used to protect an item and which during application contracts so it tightly enclose it.

Please order another five rolls of shrink-wrap from the supply house.

The wrapping around an item that has been shrink-wrapped.

Please don't damage the shrink-wrap when you are boxing up the items for shipment.

Derived terms: shrinkwrap license
Related terms: heat shrink, shrinkage, shrink rate, cling film, cling wrap, food wrap, glad wrap, Saran Wrap, saran wrap, Saran wrap, saran-wrap

shrink-wrap

verb

Etymology From shrink + wrap.

To apply shrink-wrap to (an item).

We spent all day shrink-wrapping boxes and now my feet hurt.

Biology, History, Human sciences, Natural sciences, Paleontology, Sciences Derogatory To reconstruct an extinct creature known from its fossils by depicting it with minimal soft tissue, yielding a thinner and less accurate representation of the creature.

Such shrink-wrapped models gave generations of schoolchildren mental images of dinosaurs that are probably much uglier and scrawnier than the creatures were in reality.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.