Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To start or wince involuntarily, as from surprise or pain.
  • intransitive verb To recoil, as from something unpleasant or difficult; shrink.
  • noun An act or instance of starting, wincing, or recoiling.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as flense.
  • To give way to fear or to a sense of pain; shrink back from anything painful or dangerous; manifest a feeling or a fear of suffering or injury of any kind; draw back from any act or undertaking through dread of consequences; shrink; wince: as, the pain was severe, but he did not flinch.
  • In croquet, to allow the foot to slip from the ball in the act of croqueting.

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

  • noun The act of flinching.
  • intransitive verb To withdraw from any suffering or undertaking, from pain or danger; to fail in doing or perserving; to show signs of yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince.
  • intransitive verb (Croquet) To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.

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

  • noun A reflexive jerking away.
  • verb To make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a (usually negative) stimulus.
  • verb To dodge (a question), to avoid an unpleasant task or duty

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

  • verb draw back, as with fear or pain
  • noun a reflex response to sudden pain

Etymologies

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

[Obsolete French flenchir, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compare Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌷𐌰𐌽 (filhan), Icelandic fela ("to hide")

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Examples

  • "Butt flinch" is when you're working on a construction site and someone entirely too fat and in need of suspenders gives you a vision that makes you want to have your memory erased.

    Would You Pay $25,000 for a Piece of Wood? 2010

  • This was no time to flinch from the British weather; the fate of the Province rested on my reaching the next mile castle.

    zornhau: My Eagle of the Ninth zornhau 2010

  • "Butt flinch" is when you're working on a construction site and someone entirely too fat and in need of suspenders gives you a vision that makes you want to have your memory erased.

    Would You Pay $25,000 for a Piece of Wood? 2010

  • Come now, you’re an intelligent woman, and you don’t flinch from the truth.

    Elizabeth Strout - An interview with author 2010

  • As for accuracy, I find if installed correctly they will shoot just as well if not better because of the reduction in flinch factor.

    Muzzle Brake Pros and Cons 2008

  • As for accuracy, I find if installed correctly they will shoot just as well if not better because of the reduction in flinch factor.

    Muzzle Brake Pros and Cons 2008

  • I think that for a lot of people on the transition, the instinctive response to this is going to be to cause people to flinch from the idea of a serious effort at peacemaking.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Test 2008

  • However, I forgive him for having the courage to go after some rather unsavory plot developments, no holds barred, and not flinch from the nastier things his protagonists do.

    is it just another children's story that's been declawed? ashacat 2007

  • I've since switched to a 20 gauge and suprise, my flinch is gone and the deer still die when you shoot them.

    How Much Kick Can You Take? 2007

  • Boddington says the only way to cure a flinch is shooting a 22lr a LOT.

    How Much Kick Can You Take? 2007

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