Pang

Pronunciation

• enPR: păng, IPA: /pæŋ/
• (also) US enPR: pāng, IPA: /peɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ

Origin

From Middle English *pange, an altered form of prange, pronge ("pang, throe, stab etc.")

Full definition of pang

Noun

1. (often pluralized) paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; sudden and transitory agony; throe
• 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, act 3, sc. 3,See, how the pangs of death do make him grin!
• 1888, Oscar Wilde, "The Nightingale and the Rose" in The Happy Prince and Other Tales,So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her.
2. (often pluralized) A sharp, sudden feeling of a mental or emotional nature, as of joy or sorrow
• 1867, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Guardian Angel, ch. 7,He was startled with a piece of information which gave him such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual quiet of his demeanor.

Related terms

• birth pangs
• pang of conscience

Verb

1. (transitive) to torment; to torture; to cause to have great pain or suffering
• 1918, Christopher Morley, "On Unanswering Letters" in Mince Pie,It panged him so to say good-bye when he had to leave.