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head-shrinker

noun

Etymology

Originally US, probably by reference to slang terms like “swelled head” for someone with delusions of grandeur; a psychiatrist would remove such delusions, thus figuratively shrinking the patient's swelled head.

Definitions

  1. A psychiatrist or psychotherapist

    A psychiatrist or psychotherapist; a shrink.

    • DIESEL: In the opinion on this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home. ACTION: Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived. DIESEL: So take him to a headshrinker.

  2. One who shrinks heads, as previously done by some Amazon tribes.

    • I listened to the sculptor of Dead Dad give an interview to a European television station while he crouched by the shrunken corpse of his own creation, a huge technical advance over the headshrinkers of New Guinea.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for head-shrinker. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA