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What is "wince"

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wince
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
wince
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
shudder/wince at the memory of sth (=be upset by remembering something)
▪ She shuddered at the memory of her parents fighting.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
memory
▪ She winced, smarting beneath memories of Giles's disbelief and the greedy delight that had turned to frustrated irritation.
▪ She bit her lip, wincing at the memory of her resentful scheming.
▪ He winced at the memory as he hammered on the steel and then looked through the spy port.
pain
▪ He winced with pain and made to grab at her.
▪ Rubbing his cheekbones in slow circles, he winces with pain at the sight of his own ugly mug.
▪ He tried once or twice before hopping to the farmhouse, wincing in pain whenever he jolted the injured ankle.
▪ She winced in pain as she felt a shock across her back at the impact.
▪ We used to watch the game together and I'd suddenly see him wince in pain.
▪ He winced in pain as he climbed down the staircase leading on to the tarmac, where an airline bus awaited him.
▪ It had thorns like daggers, Sabine discovered, wincing with the pain of her torn fingers.
▪ Without consideration he ripped the tape from her skin so that she winced with the searing pain.
■ VERB
make
▪ It was the surprise and indignity of watching the yellow stain spread which made me wince.
▪ Miguel scowled and the pain this caused made him wince.
▪ From that time, his anti-Semitism grew so shrill and scurrilous that its virulence still makes one wince.
▪ Some of the murders will make you wince.
▪ It was a continual clanking, rotating sound, a whirring rhythmic, steel-against-steel sound that made your teeth wince.
see
▪ We used to watch the game together and I'd suddenly see him wince in pain.
▪ I glanced over at Kip again and saw him wince when he weighed down on the pedal with his hurt foot.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ When he laughed, he winced with pain.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Fred often winced when he witnessed his wife's impudence and guile, but he realised she was right.
▪ Halting in front of the mirror in the front room, the mirror that he had forced her to stare into, she winced.
▪ He undressed, then crawled be-tween the gritty sheets, wincing with each creaking spring.
▪ His microphone whistled a little and Sally winced in embarrassment.
▪ I winced as the engine caught.
▪ Ralph winced, turned his attention to another man, a man drawing a woman over to his stool.
▪ She winced at their infelicities, at the clumsy way they beat about the bush.
▪ We drank and winced and waited for the lesson to begin.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Wince

Wince \Wince\, n. The act of one who winces.

Wince

Wince \Wince\, n. [See Winch.] (Dyeing & Calico Printing) A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment. at will.

Wince pit, Wince pot, a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like.

Wince

Wince \Wince\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Winced; p. pr. & vb. n. Wincing.] [OE. wincen, winchen, OF. quencir, guenchir, guenchier, giencier, guinchier, and (assumed) winchier, winchir, to give way, to turn aside, fr. OHG. wankjan, wenken, to give way, to waver, fr. winchan to turn aside, to nod, akin to E. wink. See Wink.]

  1. To shrink, as from a blow, or from pain; to flinch; to start back.

    I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word.
    --Shak.

  2. To kick or flounce when unsteady, or impatient at a rider; as, a horse winces.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
wince

c.1300, wincen; mid-13c. winchen, "to recoil suddenly," from Anglo-French *wenchir, Old North French *wenchier (Old French guenchir) "to turn aside, avoid," from Frankish *wenkjan, from Proto-Germanic *wankjan (cognates: Old High German wankon "to stagger, totter," Old Norse vakka "to stray, hover;" see wink (v.)). Originally of horses. Modern form is attested from late 13c. Related: Winced; wincing.

Wiktionary
wince

n. 1 A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away. 2 A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment at will. vb. (context intransitive English) To flinch as if in pain or distress.

WordNet
wince

  1. n. the facial expression of sudden pain

  2. a reflex response to sudden pain [syn: flinch]

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

  4. make a face indicating disgust or dislike; "She winced when she heard his pompous speech"

Wikipedia
Wince

Wince (foaled 28 April 1996) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a racing career which lasted from June 1998 to May 1999 she ran nine times and won four races. After winning twice from six starts as a two-year-old, she won the Fred Darling Stakes at Newbury. On her next appearance Wince won the Classic 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse. On her only subsequent appearance she finished unplaced in the Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh three weeks later. At the end of her three-year-old season she was retired from racing to become a successful broodmare.

Usage examples of "wince".

They winced when High Magus Adad slapped Marduk smartly across the face before setting the mitered crown on his head.

Orlin, sporting a black eye that made him wince with each grin, described the fight back at the bower with a relish that made Agatine snort.

She went to the back to relieve herself and winced as the warm, ammoniacal fluid stung her raw, torn flesh.

She gave her full attention to the Araba handsome, dark-skinned man with a full mustache but a hairless chin, which he plucked meticulously every evening, to the wincing fascination of her men.

She rose, tested her weight on the bandaged foot, wincing, and went to shake out her sleeping bag by the fire.

Mrs Palk had painted calamine on his sunburned legs, but they were very sore and tender, and although he tried to hide the pain he winced every time he took a step.

Father Cesare sat his hefty body upon his chair once more, his eyes wincing in pain as the bones wracked painfully together.

Boris winces momentarily as the nematocysts let rip inside his mouth, but in a moment or so, the cubozoan slips down, and in the meantime, his biophysics model clips the extent of the damage to his stinger-ruptured oropharynx.

Toby and Flynn were finally able to stand up straight without wincing, the Dakers led them into the farmhouse kitchen and sat them down at the table.

He was wincing repeatedly, not from the insulting blows that had been rained on him previously but from the screeching, wailing sounds the abused duar was producing.

He winced here, probably at the suggestion that dueling was not regarded with respect in America.

He could hear the Fetchers coming up from behind, and the flaming sword was close enough for him to wince at the heat.

At the twentieth repetition, he winced slightly, but by the thirtieth exercise, he seemed to move his knee with more fluidity and less stiffness.

I saw Lockerbie scowl, and Follet wince, and some of the others stare.

Lyle and Rader, wincing whenever Kornspan and Freer roar at each other.