shrew:
(plural: shrews‘; for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)
Apart from the most common meaning referring to a kind of mouse-like animal…
a bad tempered, ill-mannered, quarrelsome and scolding woman;
a termagant,
a shrew showing a fit of anger
e.g.
Everyone is very careful in dealing with Mrs Thompson because she is a shrew and never leaves anyone scaring off with her loud mouth.
Though the word ‘shrew’, referring to people, had existed well before the play ‘Taming of the Shrew’ by William Shakespeare, the play certainly made it popular and people who have read this play understand with ease why some women are called ‘shrews’.
Most married men are bothered by their nagging wives and never hesitate to call their wives ‘shrews’ in private; and always try to find ways to tame them, but mostly unsuccessfully!
For a news article that shows us how we come across this word referring a bad-tempered woman, please click here, for a news article that shows us how single women can be called ‘shrews’, please click here and for a blog post that tells us the story in short of the play ‘Taming of the Shrew’ by William Shakespeare, please click here.
Note, however, that ‘shrewd‘ the adjective form, is used to refer to somebody (or something) that is clever or very sharp in mind and well-informed of things around. For an article that shows us how we come across this word, along with its synonym ‘savvy’, and how it is used in a positive sense, please click here.
Return to “shrew” in Animals in Language.
