shrew

Everyday

1. A shrew is a tiny mammal with a long pointed nose, small eyes and soft fur, that looks a bit like a mouse but eats insects and worms. tree →
2. (old-fashioned, insulting) A shrew was an old word for a bad-tempered woman who often scolds; this use is now seen as unkind. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons about food chains and British wildlife the shrew is a small insect-eater that has to eat almost all the time because it burns energy so fast. Owls and cats hunt them. In old stories and the play title «The Taming of the Shrew» the word is used in its old insulting sense. Phrases: pygmy shrew, common shrew, water shrew, shrew-like.

Examples

• A shrew must eat every few hours or it will starve. tree →
• The cat brought a dead shrew into the kitchen. tree →
• Shrews have pointed noses that twitch all the time. tree →
• The pygmy shrew is one of Britain's smallest mammals. tree →
• A water shrew can swim and dive for food. tree →
• The owl swooped down and caught a shrew. tree →
• A shrew is not a mouse; it eats insects, not seeds. tree →
• In old books a cross woman was rudely called a shrew. tree →
• There was once upon a time a lark who was the Tsar among the birds, and he took unto himself as his Tsaritsa a little shrew-mouse. tree →

Note

Countable: one shrew, two shrews. Pronounced «shroo». Trap: shrews are not rodents like mice; they are in a different group with moles and hedgehogs (insect-eaters). The adjective «shrewish» means bad-tempered; but «shrewd» (clever and good at judging) is a different word, though it comes from the same old root. Calling a person a shrew is rude.