twinge
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /twɪnd͡ʒ/
rhymes: -ɪndʒ
Forms: form: twinges
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: I got a twinge in my arm.
text: Sir Boun[teous Progress]. You feele as it vvere a tvvinge my Lord? / Folly-vv [i.e., Richard Follywit]. I, ee'n a tvvinge, you ſay right. / Sir Boun. A pox diſcouer e'm, that tvvinge I feele too.
ref: c. 1605 (first performance), T[homas] M[iddleton], A Mad World, My Masters. […], London: […] H[enry] B[allard] for Walter Burre, […], published 1608, →OCLC, Act II, signature D, recto:
text: [T]he gout, […] gave him such severe twinges that it was plain enough how intolerable it would be if he were not well supplied with rings of rare virtue, and with an amulet worn close under the right breast.
ref: 1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “A Learned Squabble”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book I, page 133:
text: The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago. He must get back to the fireside and a hot-water bottle in the small of the back.
ref: 1935, Francis Beeding [pseudonym; John Leslie Palmer and Hilary Aidan Saint George Saunders], chapter VII, in The Norwich Victims (An Inspector Martin Mystery), London: Arcturus Publishing, published 2013, →ISBN, section 2 (Friday, December 11th), page 163:
coordinate_terms: cramp
glosses: A sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, especially one lasting for a short time.
examples: text: "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."
ref: 1860, J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, “Hucklebury Run and its Enterprising Proprietor”, in Miss Gilbert’s Career: An American Story, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner, […]; London: Sampson Law, Son & Co., →OCLC, page 38:
glosses: A turn, a twist.
examples: text: a twinge of embarrassment
text: [T]he VVickedneſs of this old Villain ſtartles me, and gives me a tvvinge for my ovvn Sin; though it come far ſhort of his: […]
ref: 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 48:
text: [W]ho vvould not rather Sleep Quietly upon a Hammock, vvithout either Cares in his Head, or Crudities in his Stomach, then lye Carking upon a Bed of State, vvith the Qualms and Tvvinges that accompany Surfeits and Exceſs?
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[Miscellany Fables.] Fab[le] CCCLXXXIII. A Spider and the Gout [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 355:
text: And not a tongue enquires, hovv, vvhere, or vvhen, / Though conſcience vvill have tvvinges novv and then; […]
ref: 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 22:
text: I believe it cost the vicar some twinges of conscience to persuade him that all I should want would be £40 a year; and it was very hard work, but at last we succeeded, and it was so settled.
ref: 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “Hardy’s History”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 117:
text: "You don't think he'll rusticate us, or any thing of that sort?" said Tom, who had felt horrible twinges at the captain's picture of the effects of rustication on ordinary mortals.
ref: 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “The Captain’s Notions”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 192:
glosses: 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.
glosses: A sudden, sharp occurrence of something; a nip.
glosses: Synonym of earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”).
synonyms: word: earwig
extra: insect of the order Dermaptera
examples: text: [T]he ſpirite of Jeſus hath (as it were) nipped my herte alſo with a litell twynge, […]
ref: 1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The Prologue.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xiiii, verso:
text: For the tvvinge by th' noſe, / 'Tis certainly unſightly, ſo my tables ſaies, / But helpes againſt the head-ache, vvondrous ſtrangely.
ref: c. 1615–1616, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, “The Nice Valour, or, The Passionate Mad-man”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 156, column 1:
text: I VVonder (ſays a Sovv to a Spaniel) hovv you can Favvn thus upon a Maſter that gives you ſo many Blovvs, and Tvvinges by the Ears. VVell (ſays the Dog) but then ſet the Good Bits, and the Good VVords he gives me, againſt Thoſe Blovvs and Tvvinges, and I'm a Gainer by the Bargain.
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Abstemius, &c.] Fab[le] CCXCIII. A Spaniel and a Sow.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 255:
text: Gently thou joggest by a twinge the wit, […]
ref: 1869, Robert Browning, “IX. Juris Doctor Johannes-Baptista Bottinius.”, in The Ring and the Book. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder and Co., →OCLC, page 182, line 146:
glosses: An act of pulling and twisting; a pinch, a tweak, a twitch.
Derived terms: english: or from the verb
translation: or from the verb
word: twingy