shrinking
nounEtymology From shrink + -ing.
1
The act of one who, or that which, shrinks; act of becoming smaller or moving timidly away.
- […] the silent grief beyond the power of words—the generous consolations of the noble sister—the shrinkings of the poor criminal, and his relapsings into a gentler penitence […]1822, The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, volume 6, page 10:
- The notion of a gently-nurtured girl being at the mercy of that fiend incarnate […] was one which caused me tangible shrinkings of the body.1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
- Derived terms
- antishrinking