2. A small nocturnal animal that resembles a mouse but is an insectivore, with velvety fur, a long pointed snout, and small eyes and ears.
Found worldwide, except New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand.
3. An offensive term for a woman who is regarded as quarrelsome, nagging, or ill-tempered.4. Etymology: a "small mammal", Old English screawa "shrew-mouse"; unknown outside English.
An alternate Old English word for "shrew" was scirfemus, from sceorfan, "to gnaw".
The meaning "peevish, malignant, clamorous, spiteful, vexatious, turbulent woman" (Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language) is c.1386, from an earlier sense of "spiteful person" (male or female), c.1250; 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.
Shrewish with the meaning of "scolding" is from 1565, originally "wicked, evil" (1375).
"The Taming of the Shrew"
A play (1593-1594?) by English dramatist William Shakespeare which was then produced as a movie (1967) starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
The central story of this play within a play is set in Verona, Italy, and describes Petruchio's attempts to win the wealthy but haughty and temperamental Katharina (the "shrew" of the title).
The protagonists make this a character study; as well as, a vociferous, or rowdy, farce. The expression "Kiss me, Kate" comes from Act II, scene i: "Kiss me, Kate, we will be married o' Sunday."
