Definition of "shrew"

shrew¹

/ʃɹuː/

noun
plural shrews
1. Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae (order Soricomorpha).
2. Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews (order Soricomorpha).
3. (derogatory) An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold.
  Quotations
  The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent. 'Rogue,' 'old miser,' 'old sneak,' and a great many worse names, she called him.
  1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
  His wife was a shrew with warts on her face and she spoke to him sharply when others were present, but Simcha did not complain.
  1959, Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

shrew²

/ʃɹuː/

verb
third-person singular simple present shrews, present participle shrewing, simple past and past participle shrewed
1. (obsolete, transitive) To beshrew; to curse.
  Quotations
  I shrew myself.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
  1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story)”, in The Canterbury Tales; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542,