twinge Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a sudden sharp feeling
    stab; pang.
    • pangs of regret
    • she felt a stab of excitement
    • twinges of conscience
  2. noun a sharp stab of pain
  3. verb cause a stinging pain
    prick; sting.
    • The needle pricked his skin
  4. verb feel a sudden sharp, local pain
  5. verb squeeze tightly between the fingers
    twitch; pinch; tweet; nip; squeeze.
    • He pinched her behind
    • She squeezed the bottle

WordNet

Twinge intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. twengen, AS. twengan; akin to OE. twingen to pain, afflict, OFries. thwinga, twinga, dwinga, to constrain, D. dwingen, OS. thwingan, G. zwingen, OHG. dwingan, thwingan, to press, oppress, overcome, Icel. þvinga, Sw. tvinga to subdue, constrain, Dan. twinge, and AS. þün to press, OHG. d&umac;hen, and probably to E. thong. Perhaps influenced by twitch. Cf. Thong.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Twinged ; present participle & verbal noun Twinging
Definitions
  1. To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
    When a man is past his sense, There's no way to reduce him thence, But twinging him by the ears or nose, Or laying on of heavy blows. Hudibras.
  2. To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
    The gnat . . . twinged him [the lion] till he made him tear himself, and so mastered him. L'Estrange.
Twinge intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.
Twinge noun
Definitions
  1. A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
    A master that gives you . . . twinges by the ears. L' Estrange.
  2. A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the arm or side. " A twinge for my own sin." Dryden.

Webster 1913