twinge
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twinge
- /twɪnd͡ʒ/ US, UK
Rhymes with -ɪndʒ
Where it comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English twengen (“to nip, pinch, tweak; to tear at”), from Old English twenġan (“to pinch, squeeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *twangijan (“to pinch, squeeze”), from Proto-Germanic *twangijaną (“to pinch, squeeze”), the causative form of *twinganą (“to press, squeeze”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to *þwangiz (“belt, strap, thong; pressure, restraint”) or *þwinganą, *þwinhaną (“to constrain; to force”) (whence German zwingen), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to press, pressure, squeeze”). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says there is no evidence for such a relationship.
The noun is derived from the verb.
verb twinges · twingeing · twinging · twinged · twinge
- To have a sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, like a twitch. My side twinges if I sit too long.
- To pull and twist. That ring-dove, who was cooing half-a-mile away, has hushed his moan; that flock of long-tailed titmice, which were twinging and pecking about the fir-cones a few minutes since, are gone; and now there is not even a gnat to quiver in the slant sun-rays.
- To pull and twist (someone or something); to pinch, to tweak, to twitch, to wring. I tell thee, I do vſe to teare their hair, to kick them, and to tvvindge their noſes, if they be not carefull in auoiding me.
- To affect or torment (someone, their mind, or part of their body) with one or more sudden, pinching or sharp pains; to irritate. For the Chiefeſt cauſe of pain in VVounds of the nerves is the excrementitious matter ſhut up; vvhich being overlong detayned getteth to it ſelf a depraved quality, pulleth and tvvingeth the Nerves, and at length putrifieth.
- To prick or stimulate (one's conscience). [N]othing did tvvinge my Conſcience like this: Every time that I thought of the Lord Jeſus, of his Grace, Love, Goodneſs, Kindneſs, Gentleneſs, Meekneſs, Death, Blood, Promiſes and bleſſed Exhortations, Comforts and Conſolations, it vvent to my Soul like a Svvord; […]
noun twinges
- A sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, especially one lasting for a short time. I got a twinge in my arm.
- A turn, a twist. "Easy!" exclaimed Arthur, a half-contemptuous twinge in his lip, and added: "I take it that the simple question with me is, what is right, and what is best."
- A sudden, sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of guilt or sadness; a pang, a paroxysm, a throe; also, a prick of the conscience. a twinge of embarrassment
- A sudden, sharp occurrence of something; a nip.
- Synonym of earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”).
- An act of pulling and twisting; a pinch, a tweak, a twitch. [T]he ſpirite of Jeſus hath (as it were) nipped my herte alſo with a litell twynge, […]
