▪ I. twinge, n.
(twɪndʒ)
Forms: 6 twynge, twynche, 7 twindge, (twing), 7– twinge.
[f. twinge v.1]
† 1. An act of tweaking or pinching; a tweak or pinch. Also fig. Obs.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke Prol. 15 Nipped my hert also with a litell twynge. c 1550 Pryde & Abuse Women 200 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 243 Rubbe a galde horse on thee backe, And he wyll kicke and wynse; And so wyll wanton wylyons When they have anye snaper or twynche. 1611 Cotgr., Strette, a pinch, nip, wrinche, twindge. Ibid., Tire, a..ierke, twang, twing. a 1625 Fletcher Nice Valour iii. ii, For the twindge by th' nose, 'Tis certainly unsightly. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccxciii. I. 255, I wonder..how you can Fawn thus upon a Master that gives you so many Blows, and Twinges by the Ears. [1869 Browning Ring & Bk. ix. 146 Gently thou joggest by a twinge the wit.] |
2. A sharp pinching or wringing pain; often, a momentary local pain; esp. applied to that of gout and rheumatism.
| 1608 Middleton Mad World ii. vii, You feel as it were a twinge? 1639 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 220 Crewell twinges [of gout]. 1787 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Instr. Laureat Wks. 1812 I. 497 They've felt a pain in all their Toes And often at the twinges started. 1824 Lady Granville Lett. 21 Mar. (1894) I. 267 Your..letter..soothed and comforted me during my sharpest twinges [of toothache]. 1827 Edin. Weekly Jrnl. 28 Feb., I can agree with Lord Ogleby as to his rheumatism, and say, ‘There's a twinge’. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic iii. (1833) 48 The account of any person having suffered severe pain..produces acute twinges of pain in the corresponding parts of her person. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 77 When the twinge comes shooting through you. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola vii, The gout..gave him such severe twinges. 1880 L. Stephen Pope iv. 88 Philosophers capable of rheumatic twinges. |
b. transf. A ‘nip’ of cold, etc.
| 1888 E. D. Gerard Land beyond Forest lv. 360 Alternate twinges of cold and heat. |
3. fig. A sharp mental pain; a pang of shame, remorse, sorrow, or the like; a prick of conscience; in quot. a 1745, a stimulating prick.
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 19 Her feigned pangs cease[d], and those truer ones of loue beganne to manifest themselues, giuing other kinde of twinges. 1681 Dryden Spanish Fryar iv. i, The Wickedness of this old Villain..gives me a twinge for my own Sin. a 1745 Swift Serm. viii. Wks. 1841 II. 157/2 The poorer sort..have no twinges of ambition. 1780 Cowper Table Talk 425 Conscience will have twinges now and then. 1800 Weems Washington xv. (1877) 223 This could not save poor Jack from the twinges of envy. 1834 L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 168 The sudden clang of a church-bell arrests us, like a twinge of remorse. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. viii. (1889) 69 It cost the Vicar some twinges of conscience to persuade him. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) II. iii. 91 Burke's politics gave him some severe twinges. |
4. A twist, a turn. lit. and fig. rare.
| 1860 Holland Miss Gilbert ii. 38 ‘Easy!’ exclaimed Arthur, a half-contemptuous twinge in his lip. 1875 J. Morison in Expositor I. 124 Grotius gave the expression a most unnatural twinge. |
5. dial. An earwig.
| 1790 Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Twinge, or Twitch, an earwig. North. 1828 Craven Gloss. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorks. Dial. (MS.). |
▪ II. twinge, v.1
(twɪndʒ)
Forms: 1 twengan (twæng-), 3 twenge, 3–4 tuenge, 5 twynch, 7 twindge, 7– twinge.
[OE. twengan, of obscure etymology; there is no evidence of connexion with Continental forms from the stem þwing- denoting ‘to constrain, oppress, etc.’]
1. trans. To pinch, wring, tweak, twitch. Also intr. (quot. 1858). Obs. exc. dial.
| c 1000 in Techmer's Internat. Zeitschr. II. 124/23 Twenge hine siððan mid þara swiþran hande. Ibid. 125/19 Wænd þinne scytefinger adune and twængc hine mid þinum twam fingrum. a 1250 Owl & Night. 156 Þu hauest clyures swiþe stronge Þu twengest þar mid so doþ a tonge. Ibid. 1114 An holeh stoc hwar þu þe mist hude Þat me ne twenge þine hude. c 1305 St. Dunstan 81 in E.E.P. (1862) 36 Þe deuel he hente bi þe nose: He tuengde and schok hire bi þe nose. 1440 J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 26 The tourmentours..withe hookid ynstrumentes of yryne,..pynchid and twynchid his theghis, his legges,..and over all his body. 1607 Beaumont Woman Hater ii. i, I doe use to tear their hair, to kick them, and twindge their noses, if they be not carefull in avoiding me. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. King & no K. v. i, Thus twinge your nose, thus kick, thus tread upon you. 1628 A. Leighton Zion's Plea x. (1842) 195 There are too many flesh-flies, who..twinge and bite such as do deal faithfully with Princes. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn i. i, To..twinge three or four buttons From off my lady's gown. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1155 Twindging him by th' Ears or Nose. 1858 Kingsley Winter-Gard. in Misc. I. 146 That flock of long-tailed tit-mice, which were twinging and pecking about the fir-cones. |
2. † To cause to smart or tingle; to irritate (obs.); to affect (the body or mind) with a twinge or sharp pain; to prick (the conscience).
| 1647 [see twinging below]. 1666 Bunyan Grace Ab. §184 Nothing did twinge my Conscience like this. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 114 A willingness to be rid of those gallers that twinge the brain of the stiff maintainer of this. 1686 F. Spence tr. Varillas' Ho. Medicis 431 Leo..twing'd him sometimes with severe corrections. 1727 Gay Fables i. xxxi. 7 As, twing'd with pain, he pensive sits, And raves, and prays, and swears by fits. 1780 S. J. Pratt Emma Corbett (ed. 4) II. 71 His old aches would twinge him a little. 1785 E. Perronet Occas. Verses, Acrostic 203 His mission..Like that dumb brute's, that twing'd a prophet's ear. 1801 M. Edgeworth Out of Debt i, If any of his father's old notions of economy by chance twinged his conscience. 1815 Scott Paul's Lett. (1839) 173 The Bishop of Ghent..has found his conscience alarmingly twinged. 1893 D. C. Murray Time's Revenges II. xxviii. 208 The old wound twinged him. |
b. intr. To experience a twinge or smart.
| 1640 H. Glapthorne Wit in Constable iv, To have your nose Twinge if ours' chance to itch. 1757 E. Perronet Mitre iv. xiii, Shudder ye sires—twinge ev'ry ear. 1850 Sir A. Agnew in M{supc}Crie Mem. viii. (1852) 199 Reflection arising and conscience twinging. 1868 [see twinging below]. |
Hence twinging (ˈtwɪndʒɪŋ) vbl. n.1 and ppl. a.; also twinger (ˈtwɪndʒə(r)), one who or that which twinges.
| 1608 Day Law Trickes ii. C ij, One Tristella..a twindger, a meere Horsleach, one that will suck out the braines of his treasurie. 1621 B. Jonson Gipsies Metam. Wks. (Rtldg.) 625/2 There's an old twinger Can shew ye the ginger. 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. Address (1854) p. vii, Twinging convulsions. 1659 Tatham London's Triumph 14 Ginger, That Nose tosting twinger. 1682 Bunyan Greatness of Soul Wks. (ed. Offor) I. 120 Despair, which is the most twinging stripe of hell. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. iii. 219 Felt you no little twinging of remorse? 1868 Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy i. (1908) 27, I've a twinging knee. 1906 Daily Chron. 29 Mar. 6/4 How would he wear..with a twingeing tooth and an influenza cold? |
▪ III. † twinge, v.2 Obs. rare.
[Perh. intended as a fig. use of prec., but prob. originating in some misunderstanding of earlier glosses. The strong pa. pple. twungen is app. less original than the weak form twinged.]
trans. To oppress, afflict, persecute. Hence twinging vbl. n.2
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xvi. 10 [xvii. 9] Hile me..Fra face ofe wicked þat twinged me swa. Ibid. xvii. 21 [xviii. 18] Þai forcome me in daie of twinginge. Ibid. xxxvii[i]. 8, I am twinged, and meked for vnquerte [MS. H. I am meked and twungen smert]. Ibid. xli. 13 [xlii. 9] Wharfore murned in I go, Whil þat twinges me þe fo? |