shrinkage

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The process of shrinking.
2. n. The amount or proportion by which something shrinks.
3. n. A reduction in value; depreciation.
4. n. The total weight loss sustained by livestock in shipment to a market.
5. n. Loss of merchandise, especially through theft.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The contraction of a material to a smaller surface or bulk, whether by cooling after being heated, as a metal, or by drying, as timber or clay, or by wetting, as cord or fabrics.
2. n. Figuratively, a similar reduction of any kind, as loss of weight; especially, loss of value: as, shrinkage in real estate.
3. n. Amount of diminution of surface or bulk, weight or value: as, the shrinkage of cast-iron by cooling is one eighth of an inch to a foot; the shrinkage on the goods was 10 per cent.
4. n. In gunnery, the difference between the outside diameter of the inner cylinder and the inside diameter of the outer cylinder of a built-up gun. The quantity by which the former exceeds the latter is often called the absolute shrinkage, and is expressed in the decimal parts of an inch. Relative shrinkage is the ratio obtained by dividing the absolute shrinkage by the interior diameter of the outer cylinder. It is expressed in thousandths and decimal parts of thousandths of an inch, and represents the absolute shrinkage per linear inch of the diameter of the outer cylinder. The theoretical shrinkage for a particular gun is that deduced by mathematical computation from known and assumed conditions and dimensions. The actual shrinkage is that actually obtained in practice, and varies from the theoretical shrinkage on account of the imperfections of manufacture.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of shrinking, or the proportion by which something shrinks.
2. n. The loss of merchandise through theft.
3. n. slang The reduction in size of the male genitalia following immersion in cold water

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of shrinking; a contraction into less bulk or measurement.
2. n. The amount of such contraction; the bulk or dimension lost by shrinking, as of grain, castings, etc.
3. n. colloq. Decrease in value; depreciation.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. process or result of becoming less or smaller
2. n. the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store
3. n. the amount by which something shrinks