Cringe
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈkɹɪndʒ/
- Rhymes: -ɪndʒ
Alternative forms
- crinch dialectal
Origin
From Middle English *crinchen, crenchen, crengen, from Old English cringan, crincan ("to yield, cringe; fall; perish, die"), from Proto-Germanic *kringanÄ…, *krinkanÄ… ("to fall"), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- ("to twist, wind"). Cognate with Scots crenge, creinge, creenge, crienge ("to cringe, shrug"). Related to crinkle.
Verb
- (dated, intransitive) To bow or crouch in servility.
- MiltonSly hypocrite, ... who more than thou
Once fawned and cringed, and servilely adored
Heaven's awful monarch? - 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois, ,He heard the hateful clank of their chains; he felt them cringe and grovel, and there rose within him a protest and a prophecy.
- 1904, Jack London, Batard in ,Leclere was bent on the coming of the day when Batard should wilt in spirit and cringe and whimper at his feet.
- (intransitive) To shrink, tense or recoil, as in fear, disgust or embarrassment.He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
- BunyanWhen 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.
- 1917, Jack London, ,But he made no whimper. Nor did he wince or cringe to the blows. He bored straight in, striving, without avoiding a blow, to beat and meet the blow with his teeth.
- (transitive, obsolete) To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort.
- ShakespeareTill like a boy you see him cringe his face,
And whine aloud for mercy.