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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
flinch
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
when
▪ He flinched when something moved, scraping, behind him.
▪ She did not flinch when he suggested a bathe.
▪ Young children who have a history of being hit sometimes flinch when adults come too close.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Everyone flinched as shells exploded all around us.
▪ While the price will make you flinch, in the end the lightbulbs save you money.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As our right door gunner opened up with the machine gun, I tried not to flinch.
▪ He flinches as if she were a snake.
▪ Her obligations stared her in the face, but she did not flinch!
▪ I laugh appreciatively at his sarcasm, and I never flinch, outwardly at least, at his slams.
▪ Nell flinched, but stood her ground.
▪ When he saw him he flinched slightly.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Flinch

Flinch \Flinch\, n. The act of flinching.

Flinch

Flinch \Flinch\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flinched; p. pr. & vb. n. Flinching.] [Prob. fr. OE. flecchen to waver, give way, F. fl['e]chir, fr. L. flectere to bend; but prob. influenced by E. blench. Cf. Flex.]

  1. To withdraw from any suffering or undertaking, from pain or danger; to fail in doing or perserving; to show signs of yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince; as, one of the parties flinched from the combat.

    A child, by a constant course of kindness, may be accustomed to bear very rough usage without flinching or complaining.
    --Locke.

  2. (Croquet) To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
flinch

1570s, apparently a nasalized form of obsolete Middle English flecche "to bend, flinch," which probably is from Old French flechir "to bend" (Modern French fléchir), also flechier "to bend, turn aside, flinch," which probably are from Frankish *hlankjan or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hlinc- (cognates: Middle High German linken, German lenken "to bend, turn, lead"), from PIE root *kleng- "to bend, turn" (see link (n.)). There were nasalized form of the word in Old French as well (flenchir "to bend; give ground, retreat"). Related: Flinched; flinching. As a noun, "the action of flinching," from 1817.

Wiktionary
flinch

n. A reflexive jerking away. vb. 1 To make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a (usually negative) stimulus. 2 To dodge (a question), to avoid an unpleasant task or duty 3 To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.

WordNet
flinch
  1. n. a reflex response to sudden pain [syn: wince]

  2. v. draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail]

Wikipedia
Flinch (card game)

Flinch is a card game that was invented in 1901 by A.J. Patterson.

Patterson grew up on a farm in Eaton County, Michigan, and graduated high school at the age of sixteen. He moved from job to job in Grand Rapids and Chicago before he finally settled in Kalamazoo, Michigan as a bookkeeper at a stationery store, Beecher & Kymer. 1

At home one day while he was playing cards, he came up with the idea for Flinch. He decided to create the game and the deck. Later, he ran the Flinch Card Company out of the stationery store, that was renamed Beecher, Kymer, & Patterson. 2

Flinch (comics)

Flinch was a Vertigo Comics horror anthology.

It ran 16 issues from June 1999 until January 2001 and featured the talents of Jim Lee, Bill Willingham, Frank Quitely and many others. Rumors of being canceled seemed to plague the book throughout its printing.

Tim Truman said of the series: "...the best art I've done in any single comics story is on the "Brer Hoodoo" short story I did with Joe for Vertigo's Flinch anthology." Issue #11 won a Horror Writers' Association Bram Stoker Award for "Red Romance" by Joe R. Lansdale.

Flinch

Flinch may refer to:

  • Flinch (card game), a card game
  • Flinch (comics), a Vertigo Comics horror anthology
  • Flinch (film), a 1994 film featuring Judd Nelson and Gina Gershon
  • Flinch (novel), a 2001 novel by Robert Ferrigno
  • "Flinch" (song), a 2002 song by Alanis Morissette on her album Under Rug Swept
  • Flinch (band), a Finnish glam rock band
Flinch (band)

Flinch is glam rock band from Tampere, Finland formed in 2003.

Flinch (song)

"Flinch" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette for her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept (2002). The song, written, arranged and produced by Morissette herself, is a pop rock ballad inspired by an old flame she previously dated when she was younger. Lyrically, "Flinch" is about feeling ashamed and embarrassed after seeing an ex-boyfriend, and how much he still affects her, with the protagonist claiming that she will eventually grow up and won't even flinch at his name.

The song was released in Brazil as the album's third single, after being onto the soundtrack of the Brazilian soap opera " Desejos de Mulher" in 2002. Critics were divided with the song; some praised its lyrics and Morissette's vocal performance, but others felt it was not as good as her other ballads. The song charted on Brazil's Hot 100 chart, reaching the top-forty. Morissette has performed the song live numerous times, including on her "Toward Our Union Mended Tour" (2002) and her " Live at Montreux 2012 CD/DVD".

Usage examples of "flinch".

Two officers of the United States navy were walking abreast, unguarded and alone, not looking to the right or left, never frowning, never flinching, while the mob screamed in their ears, shook cocked pistols in their faces, cursed, crowded, and gnashed upon them.

Then, outside, the addressograph began to thump again, and he had to force himself not to ruin the lines as his body tried to flinch.

He must have turned the power full up, to judge by the way Alb flinched.

At first glance Aurora had flinched with the memory of another face forever lost to her.

Admiral Beagle had flinched when Villiers had made his presentations and that had not escaped notice.

The Senate will stand firm on the issue, and not one of the Ca' Giustiniani shall flinch.

I yelled at Chubby, and we jinked back over the skyline just as the next shell passed over us, making us both flinch our heads at the mighty crack of passing shot.

He flinched as a frothing comber approached but it went by and over it and when the wave had gone the coffin had vanished.

Watching Evelyn Parks when Cox spoke, he had seen her flinch as if she had been slapped.

And fast as a flinch, me flinching the other way down the hall, the culling song spools through my head while I grab my coat and head out the door.

Kaye noticed the slight flinch when Ethine touched him and wondered whether his reaction had hurt her.

My femaleness flinched from him in vain till my body acknowledged its helpless response to his presence, and then was I soothed and lifted in his wake, to follow slave-like the demands he put to me.

The old man had made the climb bravely and in silence, flinching only when his aged joints troubled him, or when, heedlessly, his guards pushed the pace.

Minchin had dropped back, eyes wide, hands raised, body flinching into some sort of martial arts stance.

The figure in front of him also threw an arm forward, flinching backward, and vanished.