▪ I. pang, n.1
(pæŋ)
Also 6–7 pangue.
[Pang, n. and vb., are known only after 1500, the vb. being exemplified first (which may be accidental). Origin uncertain.
It has been suggested that pang n. was a phonetically-lightened variant of an earlier prang (cf. speech, OE. sprǽc, where however three consonants came together), and thus identical with a word occurring twice as pronge a 1450, and once as prange c 1530, app. in the same sense as pang: see below. These have naturally been viewed as fig. uses of prong n., a stabbing or piercing point; the difficulty is that this has not been found in the literal sense till much later (1567), and is not frequent before 1600.
1447 Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 151 As thow the prongys of deth dede streyn Here hert root. a 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 287 These prongys myn herte asondyr thei do rende. c 1530 Crt. of Love 1150 The prange of loue so straineth them to crie.]
1. A brief keen spasm of pain which appears suddenly to pierce or shoot through the body or any part of it; a shooting pain.
In 16th c. chiefly in ‘pangs of death’; also ‘of childbirth’.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 242 b, In the pange & distresse of deth. 1530 Palsgr. 251/2 Panges of dethe, les traictz de mort. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 250 The pangues and fittes of his sickenes. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xlviii. ii, The wife, whose wofull care The panges of child bed findes. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 338 This man being very olde, died in a pang. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 80 The poore Beetle that we treade vpon In corporall sufferance, finds a pang as great, As when a Giant dies. 1609 Bible (Douay) 2 Kings xxii. 5 The pangues of death have compassed me. 1611 Bible Isa. xxvi. 17 Like as a woman with childe..is in paine, and cryeth out in her pangs. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 27 ¶2 The Man in the Pangs of the Stone, Gout, or any acute Distemper. 1833 H. Martineau Cinnamon & Pearls vii. 118 The pang which shot through her yesterday. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 288 The attempt to allay the pangs of hunger by filling the stomach with non-nutritious substances. |
2. fig. A sudden sharp mental pain or feeling of intense mental anguish.
| 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 1, I am in no little pang of perplexitie. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 48 The bitter pangs that doth your heart infest. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 94 Say that some Lady..Hath for your loue as great a pang of heart As you haue for Oliuia. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 287 O sharp convulsive pangs of agonizing pride! 1749 Smollett Regicide i. iii, Keen are the pangs Of hapless love. 1808 Scott Marm. iii. xiii, High minds, of native pride or force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse! 1877 Black Green Past. xxxviii. (1878) 303 Cheerfully and without a pang sacrifice the dollars you have paid. |
† 3. A sudden access of keen feeling or emotion of any kind; a sudden transitory fit. Obs.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 117 b, This pangue or guierie of love dooeth especially..invade & possesse suche persones. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke iv. 54 There bee in vs certayne affeccionate pangues of nature, whiche we are not able to cast awaye from vs. 1565 Jewel Def. Apol. Wks. (Parker Soc.) III. 392 O, what a merry pang was this, M. Harding! 1642 Rogers Naaman 6 Only to amuse their minds, and stirre up pangs of affection. 1643 Trapp Comm. Gen. xix. 32 [He] does that in a drunken pang. 1693 Humours Town 138 Among their Fits of Devotion they shall have such Amorous Pangs for Heav'n, that one wou'd think [etc.]. a 1694 Tillotson Serm. (1743) VIII. 3417 Galen..when he had anatomized man's body, and carefully surveyed the frame of it..fell into a pang of devotion and wrote a hymn to his Creator. |
▪ II. pang, n.2
(pæŋ)
[Echoic.]
Vocal imitation of a short, resonant sound, such as that produced by a drum, a horse's hoof, etc.; a sound of this character.
| 1925 E. Sitwell Troy Park 65 As the hoofèd sound of a drum marched on With a pang like darkness. 1955 E. Pound Classic Anthol. iii. 188 Every man eager to pace the stallions, ‘Pang, pang’ and Rein bells chink. 1958 L. Durrell Mountolive vii. 144 There were two excellent hard courts which rang all day to the pang of racquets. 1958 ― Balthazar vii. 155 The tattling flutes and the pang of drums. |
▪ III. pang, a. Sc.
(pæŋ)
[cf. pang v.2]
Packed tight, stuffed, crammed. Also pang-full.
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 178 Thair avairis fyld vp all the feild, Thay wer so fow and pang With drafe. 1807 J. Ruickbie Wayside Cottager 110 (E.D.D.) The bench is fill'd, the house is pang. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss Hags 367 A rude man, and pang full of oaths. |
b. Tight, compactly framed.
| 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake (1871) 27 Sae pang was our pearily prow Quhan we cudna speil the brow of the wavis We needilit them through below. |
▪ IV. pang, v.1 Now rare.
(pæŋ)
[See pang n.1]
trans. To afflict with pangs; to pierce or penetrate with acute physical or mental pain. Also absol.
| c 1502 Joseph Arim. (E.E.T.S.) 47/323 His chylde in the pestylence was in Ieopardy, And sore panged. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 44 What heuynesse dyd me pange. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 3 b, By the tormentyng..of which sicknes, men were so..peynfully panguèd. 1598 Florio, Accorare, to pang or pinch at the hart. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iii. 15 'Tis a sufferance, panging As soule and bodies seuering. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1817) II. lii. 177 The news of your misfortune panged me to the very intrails. 1838 Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 531 May the mortal stroke Be balanced well, and pang not. |
† b. To move by any sudden feeling. Obs.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 526 Heere the kinde⁓hearted Iesuit is panged with a fit of Charitie to yoke the Lutherans with them. |
Hence ˈpanged ppl. a., ˈpanging vbl. n.
| 1827 Hood Mids. Fairies lxxviii, Like a pang'd nightingale, it made him pause. 1876 C. Wells Joseph & Brethren i. vi, But he is dead, and I am left to mourn, And tire on pangèd recollection. 1863 Ld. Lytton Ring Amasis I. i. ii. ii. 124 Never shall the panging of your spirits be at rest. |
▪ V. pang, v.2 Sc. and north. dial.
(pæŋ)
[Origin uncertain: perhaps onomatopœic.
Identity with Goth. praggan, i.e. prangan to press, with loss of r, has been suggested.]
trans. To pack tight, fill by pressure, stuff, cram.
| 1637 Rutherford Lett. 14 July (1671) 9 Hell will be empty..and heaven panged full. 1718 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. iii. iii, As fou 's the house could pang. 1785 Burns Holy Fair xix, It pangs us fou o' Knowledge. 1814 Scott Wav. lxiv, The auld gudeman o' Corse-Cleugh has panged it wi' a kemple o' strae amaist. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Pang, to fill, or stuff. 1899 Speaker 4 Feb. 157 Men whose minds are panged with the lore of old Scotland. |