Shrew Meaning
/ʃɹuː/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAny of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.
nounCertain other small mammals that resemble true shrews.
Sentence Examples
The Etruscan shrew is the smallest mammal by weight. It only weighs 1.8 grammes.
At the edge of the road lay a dead shrew.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old man called his noisy neighbor a ____ because she never stopped yelling.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A ____ is a very small, insect-eating mammal that looks somewhat like a mouse but has a longer snout.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
"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."
— 1959, Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz:
"“Cease thy squalling, thou shrew!”"
— 1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 88:
"I shrew myself."
— 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story via the 'title' parameter)”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old man called his noisy neighbor a ____ because she never stopped yelling.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A ____ is a very small, insect-eating mammal that looks somewhat like a mouse but has a longer snout.