cringe
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹɪnd͡ʒ/
rhymes: -ɪndʒ
Forms: form: cringes
form: cringing
form: cringed
form: cringed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: cringe
form: cringe
form: cringed
form: cringe
form: cringest
form: cringed
form: cringedst
form: cringes
form: cringeth
form: cringed
form: cringe
form: cringed
form: cringe
form: cringed
form: cringe
form: -
form: cringing
form: cringed
form: crinch
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English crengen (“to bend in a haughty manner; to condescend”) [and other forms], from Old English *crenċan, *crenċġan, *crenġan (“to cause to fall or turn”), the causative of crinċġan (“to yield; to cringe; to fall; to die, perish”), from Proto-Germanic *krangijaną (“to cause to fall; to cause to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *kringaną, *krinkaną (“to fall; to turn; to yield”) (from Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- (“to turn”)) + *-janą (suffix forming causatives with the sense ‘to cause to do (the action of the verb)’ from strong verbs). The English word is cognate with Danish krænge (“to turn inside out, evert”), Dutch krengen (“to careen, veer”) and Dutch kring (“circle”), Scots crenge, creenge, creinge, crienge (“to cringe; to shrug”), Swedish kränga (“to careen; to heel, lurch; to toss”), and West Frisian kringe (“to pinch; to poke; to push; to insist, urge”); and is a doublet of crinkle.
The noun and adjective are derived from the verb via zero derivation.
Senses: examples: text: He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
text: [W]hen they were come up to the place where the Lions were, the Boys that went before, were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the Lions, ſo they ſtept back and went behind.
ref: 1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally Published by John Bunyan: Being a Fac-simile Reproduction of the First Edition, London: Elliot Stock […], 1875, →OCLC, page 69:
text: And besides all this, there was a certain lofty bearing about the Pagan, which even his uncouthness could not altogether maim. He looked like a man who had never cringed and never had had a creditor.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “A Bosom Friend”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 55:
text: Here the angel ceased, and frowning, / Hurled his heavy gauntlet at him; / Hurled, as best he could, the creature, / Cringing as the Serpent cringeth, / Coiled, and with his crest uplifted; / And then prone upon his belly, / Crawled away upon his belly, [...]
ref: 1860, [John B. Newman], “The Combat”, in Wa-Wa-Wanda: A Legend of Old Orange, New York, N.Y.: Rudd & Carleton, […], →OCLC, page 28:
text: But he [Jerry, a dog] made no whimper. Nor did he wince or cringe to the blows. He bored straight in, striving, without avoiding a blow, to beat and meet the blow with his teeth.
ref: 1917 April, Jack London, chapter VIII, in Jerry of the Islands, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 115:
text: Perhaps the Daily Mail should be sued for damaging people's health? Across the nation, millions have cringed so hard at its audaciously sexist front page that they've strained their face muscles, or given themselves a migraine from slamming their heads repeatedly against the nearest wall.
ref: 2017 March 28, Owen Jones, “The bigots are on the march – and with 'Legs-it' the Daily Mail bears the flag”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2022:
glosses: To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
examples: text: I'm cringing watching this easily Blizzard- or Square Enix-worthy new trailer for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online. Not because it's bad — it's a deftly rendered slice of CGI. But it must have cost a fortune. It makes me want to say "Spend the money on knocking the game out of the park, please, not the frippery, Bethesda." But oh what frippery.
ref: 2014 January 29, Matt Peckham, “8 Minutes of Ridiculously Beautiful The Elder Scrolls Online Cinematic Footage”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2022:
glosses: To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
examples: text: [I]f they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reaſon of their carriage, becauſe they cannot ride a horſe, which euery Clowne can doe; ſalute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common ſwaſher can doe, [...]
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Loue of Learning; or Ouer-much Study. With a Digression of the Misery of Schollers, and Why the Muses are Melancholy.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 15, page 113:
text: And thou ſly hypocrite, who now wouldſt ſeem / Patron of liberty, who more then thou / Once fawn'd,and cring'd, and ſervilly ador'd / Heav'ns awful Monarch?
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 958–961:
text: Lady, receive a tributary lay / From one who cringeth not to titled state / Conventional, and lacking will to prate / Of comeliness— [...]
ref: 1846, Thomas Cooper, “To the Countess of Blessington”, in The Baron’s Yule Feast: A Christmas-rhyme, London: Jeremiah How, […], →OCLC:
text: Humbly thou cringest that with nod of head / Couldst fling me seaward from they steepest cliffs!
ref: 1891, Edgar Fawcett, “How a Queen Loved”, in Songs of Doubt and Dream: (Poems), New York, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Funk & Wagnalls, →OCLC, stanza I, page 155:
text: Leclère was bent on the coming of the day when Bâtard [a dog] should wilt in spirit and cringe and whimper at his feet.
ref: 1902, Jack London, “Bâtard”, in The Faith of Men and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., published September 1904, →OCLC, page 207:
text: He heard the hateful clank of their chains; he felt them cringe and grovel, and there rose within him a protest and a prophecy.
ref: 1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, “Of Alexander Crummell”, in The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC, page 219:
glosses: To bow or crouch in servility.
examples: text: Here the beggar accoſts me; had I appeared as himſelf, he had aſked nothing: but now he uncovers, he cringeth, he cries for relief.
ref: 1782, John Brown, “The Christian Journal of a Summer-day”, in The Christian Journal; or, Common Incidents, Spiritual Instructors. […], 4th edition, Edinburgh: […] Gavin Alston; [s]old by William Coke, […], →OCLC, page 119:
text: Their [the clergy's] chief business, during a quarter of a century, had been to teach the people to cringe and the prince to domineer.
ref: 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 105:
text: Even to the present day the Arabs consider treating a Hutaymi as unmanly as to strike a woman. When a Felláh says to another, "Tat'hattim" (= Tat'maskin, or Tat'zallí), he means, "Thou cringest, thou makest thyself contemptible (as a Hutaymi)."
ref: 1880 June 23, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “The Ethnology of Modern Midian”, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, volume XII (Second Series), London: John Murray, […]; Trübner and Co., […], published 1882, →OCLC, part I (Notices of the Tribes of Midian, …), page 286:
glosses: To act in an obsequious or servile manner.
examples: text: [H]ow thriue you, howe periſh you, and they cringing in their neckes, like rattes, ſmothered in the holde, [...]
ref: 1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 10:
text: Whip him Fellowes, / Till like a Boy you ſee him crindge his face, / And whine aloud for mercy.
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene xiii], page 357, column 2:
glosses: To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).
glosses: To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.
Derived terms: word: cringe comedy
word: cringe culture
word: cringefest
word: cringeful
word: cringeling
word: cringemaking
word: cringe-making
word: cringe-makingly
word: cringeometer
word: cringe-o-meter
word: cringer
word: cringesome
word: cringetastic
word: cringeworthy
word: cringing
word: cringingly
word: cringingness
word: cringy
word: cultural cringe
Related terms: crouch
wince