Shredcook
(Shred"cook`) n. (Zoöl.) The fieldfare; — so called from its harsh cry before rain. [Prov. Eng.]
Shredding
(Shred"ding) n.
1. The act of cutting or tearing into shreds.
2. That which is cut or torn off; a piece. Hooker.
Shreddy
(Shred"dy) a. Consisting of shreds.
Shredless
(Shred"less), a. Having no shreds; without a shred.
And those which waved are shredless dust ere now.
Byron. Shrew
(Shrew) a. [OE. shrewe, schrewe. Cf. Shrewd.] Wicked; malicious. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Shrew
(Shrew), n. [See Shrew, a.]
1. Originally, a brawling, turbulent, vexatious person of either sex, but now restricted in use to females; a
brawler; a scold.
A man . . . grudgeth that shrews [i. e., bad men] have prosperity, or else that good men have adversity.
Chaucer.
A man had got a shrew to his wife, and there could be no quiet in the house for her.
L'Estrange. 2. [AS. screáwa; — so called because supposed to be venomous. ] (Zoöl.) Any small insectivore of the
genus Sorex and several allied genera of the family Sorecidæ. In form and color they resemble mice,
but they have a longer and more pointed nose. Some of them are the smallest of all mammals.
The common European species are the house shrew and the erd shrew (Sorex vulgaris) In the United
States several species of Sorex and Blarina are common, as the broadnosed shrew Cooper's shrew
and the short-tailed, or mole, shrew Th American water, or marsh, shrew with fringed feet, is less common.
The common European water shrews are Crossopus fodiens, and the oared shrew
Earth shrew, any shrewlike burrowing animal of the family Centetidæ, as the tendrac. — Elephant
shrew, Jumping shrew, Mole shrew. See under Elephant, Jumping, etc. — Musk shrew. See
Desman. — River shrew, an aquatic West African insectivore (Potamogale velox) resembling a weasel
in form and size, but having a large flattened and crested tail adapted for rapid swimming. It feeds on
fishes. — Shrew mole, a common large North American mole (Scalops aquaticus). Its fine, soft fur is
gray with iridescent purple tints.
Shrew
(Shrew), v. t. [See Shrew, a., and cf. Beshrew.] To beshrew; to curse. [Obs.] "I shrew myself."
Chaucer.
Shrewd
(Shrewd) a. [Compar. Shrewder ; superl. Shrewdest.] [Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]
1. Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish.
[Obs.] Chaucer.
[Egypt] hath many shrewd havens, because of the great rocks that ben strong and dangerous to pass
by.
Sir J. Mandeville.
Every of this happy number
That have endured shrewd days and nights with us.
Shak.
