Meanings
plural head-shrinkers · alternative headshrinker
- slangA psychiatrist or psychotherapist; a shrink.
DIESEL: In the opinion on this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home. ACTION: Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived. DIESEL: So take him to a headshrinker.
1957, West Side StorySynonyms: headshrink, shrink, trick cyclist
- literallyOne who shrinks heads, as previously done by some Amazon tribes.
I listened to the sculptor of Dead Dad give an interview to a European television station while he crouched by the shrunken corpse of his own creation, a huge technical advance over the headshrinkers of New Guinea.
2010, Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA psychiatrist or psychotherapist; a shrink.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna savage who cuts off and preserves the heads of enemies as trophies
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Originally US, probably by reference to slang terms like “swelled head” for someone with delusions of grandeur; a psychiatrist would remove such delusions, thus figuratively shrinking the patient's swelled head.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Danish hovedjæger
- hovedjægerone who shrinks the heads of the dead
Finnish kallonkutistaja
- kallonkutistajaone who shrinks the heads of the dead
Hungarian fejzsugorító
- fejzsugorítóone who shrinks the heads of the dead
Cite this entry
head-shrinker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/head-shrinker
“head-shrinker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/head-shrinker. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “head-shrinker,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/head-shrinker.
Source: head-shrinker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.