Meaning of Twinge | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, especially one lasting for a short time.
2. A turn, a twist.
   also, figuratively, rare
3. A sudden, sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of guilt or sadness; a pang, a paroxysm, a throe; also, a prick of the conscience.
   figuratively
4. A sudden, sharp occurrence of something; a nip.
   figuratively
5. Synonym of earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”).
   UK, dialectal
6. An act of pulling and twisting; a pinch, a tweak, a twitch.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“I got a twinge in my arm.”

“Sir Boun[teous Progress]. You feele as it vvere a tvvinge my Lord? / Folly-vv [i.e., Richard Follywit]. I, ee'n a tvvinge, you ſay right. / Sir Boun. A pox diſcouer e'm, that tvvinge I feele too.”

“[T]he gout, […] gave him such severe twinges that it was plain enough how intolerable it would be if he were not well supplied with rings of rare virtue, and with an amulet worn close under the right breast.”

“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. He must get back to the fireside and a hot-water bottle in the small of the back.”

“"Easy!" exclaimed Arthur, a half-contemptuous twinge in his lip, and added: "I take it that the simple question with me is, what is right, and what is best."”

“a twinge of embarrassment”

“[T]he VVickedneſs of this old Villain ſtartles me, and gives me a tvvinge for my ovvn Sin; though it come far ſhort of his: […]”

“[W]ho vvould not rather Sleep Quietly upon a Hammock, vvithout either Cares in his Head, or Crudities in his Stomach, then lye Carking upon a Bed of State, vvith the Qualms and Tvvinges that accompany Surfeits and Exceſs?”

“And not a tongue enquires, hovv, vvhere, or vvhen, / Though conſcience vvill have tvvinges novv and then; […]”

“I believe it cost the vicar some twinges of conscience to persuade him that all I should want would be £40 a year; and it was very hard work, but at last we succeeded, and it was so settled.”

“"You don't think he'll rusticate us, or any thing of that sort?" said Tom, who had felt horrible twinges at the captain's picture of the effects of rustication on ordinary mortals.”

“[T]he ſpirite of Jeſus hath (as it were) nipped my herte alſo with a litell twynge, […]”

“For the tvvinge by th' noſe, / 'Tis certainly unſightly, ſo my tables ſaies, / But helpes againſt the head-ache, vvondrous ſtrangely.”

“I VVonder (ſays a Sovv to a Spaniel) hovv you can Favvn thus upon a Maſter that gives you ſo many Blovvs, and Tvvinges by the Ears. VVell (ſays the Dog) but then ſet the Good Bits, and the Good VVords he gives me, againſt Thoſe Blovvs and Tvvinges, and I'm a Gainer by the Bargain.”

“Gently thou joggest by a twinge the wit, […]”

CEFR level