cringe Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb draw back, as with fear or pain
    squinch; flinch; recoil; wince; quail; shrink; funk.
    • she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf
  2. verb show submission or fear
    fawn; crawl; grovel; cower; creep.

WordNet

Cringe transitive verb
Etymology
As. crincgang, cringan, crincan, to jield, fall; akin to E. crank.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Crnged present participle & verbal noun Cringing
Definitions
  1. To draw one's self together as in fear or servility; to bend or crouch with base humility; to wince; hence; to make court in a degrading manner; to fawn.
    When 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. Bunyan.
    Sly hypocrite, . . . who more than thou Once fawned and cringed, and servilely adored Heaven's awful monarch? Milton.
    Flatterers . . . are always bowing and cringing. Arbuthnot.
Cringe transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort. Obs.
    Till like a boy you see him cringe his face, And whine aloud for mercy. Shak.
Cringe noun
Definitions
  1. Servile civility; fawning; a shrinking or bowing, as in fear or servility. "With cringe and shrug, and bow obsequious." Cowper.

Webster 1913