▪ I. flinch, v.1
(flɪnʃ)
Also 7 flench.
[app. a. OF. flenchir, flainchir, usually regarded as a variant of the synonymous flechir: see flecche.]
1. intr. To give way, draw back, yield ground in a combat; to draw back or turn aside from a course of action, a duty or enterprise. In later use influenced by sense 3: To draw back through failure in courage, endurance, or resolve; to shrink from something as dangerous, painful, or difficult.
| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 91 If thou wast minded..to loue me, why dost thou flinch at the last? 1587 Mirr. Mag., Humber v, Pitch'd our fielde In hope to make them flinche, flye, fall or yeelde. 1611 Barry Ram-Alley iii. i, I shall catch him in a narrow room, Where neither of us can flinch. 1649 Bp. Guthrie Mem. (1702) 65 Drawing them to his Tent, upon assurance, and afterwards flinching from it. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iv. xi, O the ingratitude and injustice..that John Bull..should flinch at last. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. 437 If you flinch not, like Jonah, from fulfilling your commission. 1840 Alison Hist. Europe (1849–50) VIII. liv. §4. 464 The peasants withstood without flinching several attacks in front. 1873 H. Rogers Orig. Bible vi. (1875) 220 Faintheartedness..had often made him flinch in sudden temptation. |
† b. to flinch out: to swerve, deviate, be deflected. Obs. rare—1.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iii. lxxi, Why Venus flincheth out More then Mercurius. |
† 2. To slink, sneak off. Also with away, off.
| 1563 in Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxxvi. 413 For the preventing of any of these dispensed Persons from flinching off from them, or falling from this Correspondence. 1605 Camden Rem. 235 Which when they have beene well and kindely entertained flinch away never giving thankes. 1611 Florio, Spicchiáre, to sneake or flinch secretly out of sight. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 131 They went flinching away, and got them home through bye-lanes. |
3. To shrink under pain; to wince.
| a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 II. 38 Doth not every man flinch at any trouble? 1692 Locke Educ. §115 A child..may..be accustom'd to bear very..rough usage without flinching or complaining. 1791 Boswell Johnson 7 May an. 1773 note, He never flinched; but after reiterated blows, remained seemingly unmoved. 1879 Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 224 Gnaw through me, through and through: flat thus I lie nor flinch. |
b. To blench: see blench v.1 2 and 6.
| 1883 tr. Stepniak's Undergr. Russia Introd. ii. iii. 43 He..can die without flinching. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 93 Serpents..charm you with a gaze that will not flinch. |
4. quasi-trans. To withdraw from, lose (one's ground). Also, to flinch the flagon: to let the bottle pass. to flinch one's glass: to avoid emptying it. † to flinch (back) one's hand: to draw it back; in quot. fig. to intermit one's activity.
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 75 If Nature should but flinch back her hand, or the world that is round about it should but be pluckt away from it. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. vi, Lewis.. either by the strength of his brain, or flinching his glass, kept himself sober as a judge. 1790 Burns Election Ball. xiv, Welsh who ne'er yet flinch'd his ground. 1838 James Robber i, You flinched the flagon. |
Hence ˈflinching vbl. n.
| 1600 Holland Livy xlii. 1127 This flinching of his and absenting himselfe. 1845 Hood True Story xiv, A recollection strong enough To cause a very serious flinching. 1879 Froude Cæsar xvii. 277 There was no flinching and no cowardice. |
▪ II. † flinch, v.2 Obs.
[Cf. flip, flirt.]
(See quot.) Hence ˈflinching vbl. n.
| 1727–36 Bailey, Flinching..also a flirting the Nail of the Middle-finger slapped from the Thumb. 1735 Dyche & Pardon, Flinch..also to strike or cut the Flesh by a Stroke with the Nail of the middle Finger. |
▪ III. flinch, v.3 Naut.
(flɪnʃ)
[possibly identical in etymology with flinch v.1; cf. flanch.]
trans. To bevel; = snape v.
| 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Snape. |
▪ IV. flinch
var. of flench v.
▪ V. flinch, n.
(flɪnʃ)
[f. flinch v.1]
The action of flinching.
| 1817 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. LXXXIII. 498 That unwelcome flinch which the touch of egotism gives to benevolence. 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn I. xx. 205 Thar's no flinch in me, you may depend upon it. 1862 in A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus (1892) I. 741 Mr. Rarey..leaped over its head, laid [sic] down upon it, and within its legs, all without a start or a flinch. 1922 A. S. M. Hutchinson This Freedom ii. ii. 91 But she came back bravely from her flinch. 1930 Auden Poems 25 Nowise withdrawn by doubting flinch Nor joined to any by belief's firm flange. |