- shrew (n.)
- small mammal, Old English screawa "shrew-mouse," unknown outside English, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skreu- "to cut" (see shred (n.)). Alternative Old English word for it was scirfemus, from sceorfan "to gnaw." The meaning "peevish, malignant, clamorous, spiteful, vexatious, turbulent woman" [Johnson] is late 14c., from earlier sense of "spiteful person" (male or female), mid-13c., traditionally said to derive from some supposed malignant influence of the animal, which was once believed to have a venomous bite and was held in superstitious dread (cf. beshrew).