Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sharp, sudden physical pain. synonym: pain.
  • noun A mental or emotional pain.
  • intransitive verb To feel or be the source of a twinge or twinges.
  • intransitive verb To cause to feel a twinge or twinges.
  • intransitive verb Obsolete To tweak; pinch.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To press; constrain; oppress; affiict.
  • To pull with a sharp, pinching jerk; tweak; twitch.
  • To torment with sharp, darting pains; sting: said of physical or mental pain.
  • To have a sharp, jerking pain, like a twitch; suffer a keen, shooting pain.
  • noun A nipping or pinching; a twitch; a tweak.
  • noun A sharp, darting pain of momentary continuance; a pang, physical or mental.
  • noun Synonyms See pain and agony.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
  • transitive verb To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
  • intransitive verb To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain.
  • noun A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
  • noun A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
  • noun A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the arm or side.
  • verb To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
  • verb To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
  • verb To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause a stinging pain
  • verb feel a sudden sharp, local pain
  • verb squeeze tightly between the fingers
  • noun a sharp stab of pain
  • noun a sudden sharp feeling

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English twengen, to pinch, from Old English twengan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English twengan.

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