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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
twinge
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a pang/stab/twinge of jealousy (=a sudden feeling of jealousy)
▪ Polly felt a sharp pang of jealousy when she saw Paul with Suzanne.
a pang/twinge/stab of guilt
▪ Richard felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he had forgotten her birthday.
a pang/twinge/stab of regretliterary (= a sudden short feeling of regret)
▪ Kate watched her go with a pang of regret.
a twinge of disappointment (=a small feeling of disappointment)
▪ She felt a twinge of disappointment at not getting first prize.
a twinge/stab of pity (=a small feeling of pity)
▪ Charles even felt a twinge of pity for Mrs Sweet.
twinge/pang of envy
▪ I felt a twinge of envy when I saw them together.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
feel
▪ But the path took me back into darkness and I felt my first real twinge of panic.
▪ I felt a twinge in the pit of my stomach.
▪ Then, five metres from the line, I felt a twinge in my hamstring.
▪ I feel a twinge of sympathetic embarrassment on my late colleague's behalf.
▪ Charles even felt a twinge of pity for Mrs Sweet.
▪ Melanie felt a twinge of discomfort.
▪ I felt an unusual twinge of pity for him and reached out and clasped one of his hands in mine.
▪ Romanov felt a twinge of envy at the thought that he could never hope to live in such style.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ George felt a twinge of pain in his ankle from when he had slipped on the ice.
▪ I'd had the odd twinge now and again, but my heart-attack was totally unexpected.
▪ Johnson felt a twinge on the inside of his right leg.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But the path took me back into darkness and I felt my first real twinge of panic.
▪ Charles even felt a twinge of pity for Mrs Sweet.
▪ I feel a twinge of sympathetic embarrassment on my late colleague's behalf.
▪ I feel a small, icy twinge around my heart.
▪ I felt responsible and concerned, but also a twinge of frustration.
▪ I had a twinge of hard joy as I ran after the car.
▪ Then he thought of Benedicta and felt a twinge of doubt.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Twinge

Twinge \Twinge\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Twinged; p. pr. & vb. n. Twinging.] [OE. twengen, AS. twengan; akin to OE. twingen to pain, afflict, OFries. thwinga, twinga, dwinga, to constrain, D. dwingen, OS. thwingan, G. zwingen, OHG. dwingan, thwingan, to press, oppress, overcome, Icel. [thorn]vinga, Sw. tvinga to subdue, constrain, Dan. twinge, and AS. [thorn]["u]n to press, OHG. d[=u]hen, and probably to E. thong. Perhaps influenced by twitch. Cf. Thong.]

  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 twinging him by the ears or nose, Or laying on of heavy blows.
    --Hudibras.

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

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

Twinge

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

Twinge

Twinge \Twinge\, n.

  1. A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.

    A master that gives you . . . twinges by the ears.
    --L' Estrange.

  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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
twinge

1540s, "a pinch, a nipping," from obsolete verb twinge "to pinch, tweak," from Old English twengan "to pinch," from Proto-Germanic *twangjan (cognates: Old Frisian thwinga, Old Norse þvinga, Danish tvinge, Dutch dwingen, Old High German thwingan, German zwingen "to compel, force"), from PIE *twengh- "to press in on" (see thong). Meaning "sharp, sudden minor pain" is recorded from c.1600. Figurative sense (with reference to shame, remorse, etc.) is recorded from 1620s.

Wiktionary
twinge

n. 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. vb. 1 To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak. 2 To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains. 3 To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.

WordNet
twinge
  1. n. a sudden sharp feeling; "pangs of regret"; "she felt a stab of excitement"; "twinges of conscience" [syn: pang, stab]

  2. a sharp stab of pain

  3. v. cause a stinging pain; "The needle pricked his skin" [syn: prick, sting]

  4. feel a sudden sharp, local pain

  5. squeeze tightly between the fingers; "He pinched her behind"; "She squeezed the bottle" [syn: pinch, squeeze, tweet, nip, twitch]

Usage examples of "twinge".

This was familiar territory to Alec, and he felt a twinge of sadness as he looked around.

She was banking on the zoned and shut off his IV drip of blockers without a twinge of remorse.

It gave Willie a twinge to see how easily the coxswain was cowed out of even that small comfort.

She waved again, with more enthusiasm, and the movement caused a twinge of pain from a bruise Cullum had left on her shoulder.

He poured two, sipped at the Downer wine and tried to warm the tremors from his limbs, the twinges of pain from his chest.

But a twinge of cramp in my left arm, and a healthy sneeze, which frightened a score of bats overhead nearly out of their senses, was reassuring on this point, and rubbing away the cramp and staggering to my feet, I looked about at the strange surroundings.

He felt the twinge of pain as Ferdie the Frug stirred into comprehension of what was going to happen.

Harriet felt a twinge of guilt because she had seen a lot more than Ole Golly thought she had.

Freud, Leonardo, Orwell, Alice, and the Great Gonzo, Ralph Steadman now offers the triography of his artistic alter ego, the redoubtable Gavin Twinge.

Though Jacques, the kindliest soul imaginable, was genuinely fond of his Master, I should very much like to know what was going through his mind, if not on the spur of the moment, then at least when he had checked that the fall had done no serious damage, and whether he was able to suppress a momentary twinge of secret exultation prompted by an accident which would teach his Master what it was like to have an injured knee.

But still, Laure felt a twinge of regret and responsibility as she regarded the cooing pair, well knowing that tender turtledove was a chicken hawk in disguise.

Ercott felt that jealous twinge, soon lost this time in the motherliness of a childless woman for her husband.

That sundering ripped me like a leaf, but it was a twinge compared to the tug that is on me now.

He marked his own cave on the hillside below, where Tek and the twins now doubtless sheltered, and felt a twinge.

What little that remained unobliterated in the way of deep human emotions in Bill twinged ever so slightly, lifted their heads feebly from the abyssal depths of depression and, like frail shoots in April lured on by the siren promise of spring, began to flower with weensy buds of hope.