shrinking

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

SHRINK'ING, participle present tense Contracting; drawing together; withdrawing from danger; declining to act from fear; causing to contract.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

More founding-era words: liberty · virtue · republic · justice · providence · commerce · militia · arms · prudence · establishment · religion · usurpation · tyranny · citizen · unalienable · sovereign