shrinkable (shringkabl)

[ shrinkage (shring'kāj), n. [ -age .] 1. The contraction of a material to a smaller surface or bulk, whether by cooling after be- ing heated, as a metal, or by drying, as timber or clay, or by wetting, as cord or fabrics. 4. To draw back or retire, as from danger; re- coil physically, as in fear, horror, or distrust; compensating duty is not exce ive. sometimes, simply, to go aside. There are some grades of imported wool on which the shrinkage and lo in manufacture are so great that the Tau ig , Tariff History, p. 211. . shrive I have also subjected the cortex to the action of glyce rine, with more remarkable results in the way of shrinkage. Alien. and Neurol ., VI. 559. 2. Figuratively, a similar reduction of any kind, as lo of weight; especially, lo of value: as, shrinkage in real estate. 3. Amount of diminution of surface or bulk, weight or value: as, the shrinkage of cast-iron by cooling is one eighth of an inch to a foot; the shrinkage on the goods was 10 per cent.-4. In gun., the difference between the outside diameter of the inner cylinder and the inside diameter of the outer cylinder of a built-up gun. The quantity by which the former exceeds the latter is often called the absolute shrinkage, and is expre ed in the decimal parts of an inch. Relative shrinkage is the ratio obtained by dividing the absolute shrinkage by the interior diameter of the outer cylinder. It is expre ed in thousandths and decimal parts of thousandths of an inch, and represents the absolute shrinkage per linear inch of the diameter of the outer cylinder. The theoretical shrinkage for a particular gun is that deduced by mathematical computation from known and a umed conditions and dimensions. The ac tual shrinkage is that actually obtained in practice, and varies from the theoretical shrinkage on account of the imperfections of manufacture.