Twinge

Pronunciation

• IPA: /twɪndÊ’/

Origin

From Old English twengan.

Full definition of twinge

Noun

1. A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
2. A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the arm or side.
• 1935, w, The Norwich Victims Chapter 7/2, The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.

Verb

1. To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
• HudibrasWhen 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.
2. To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
• L'EstrangeThe gnat ... twinged him lion till he made him tear himself, and so mastered him.
3. To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.