Twinge

[imp. & p. p. TWINGED; p. pr. & vb. n. TWINGEING.] [Allied to tweak, twitch, and twang, q. v.]

1Sense 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 twingeing him by the ears or nose, Or laying on of heavy blows. Hudibras.

2Sense 2. To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.

The gnat twinged the lion till he made him tear himself, and so he mastered him. L'Estrange.

v. i. To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.

n. 1. A pinch; a tweak; a twitch. “A master that gives you so many blows and twinges by the ear.” L’Estrange.

2Sense 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.