wince

From Middle English wyncen, from Anglo-Norman winchir (compare Old French guenchir), from Frankish *wankjan. See also German winken.

• IPA^(key): /wɪns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪns

wince (plural winces)

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.

 

wince (third-person singular simple present winces, present participle wincing, simple past and past participle winced)

2. (intransitive) To flinch as if in pain or distress.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

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

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.

   • 1935, Francis Beeding, “7/2”, in The Norwich Victims‎^[1]:

     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.

3. (transitive) To wash (cloth), dip it in dye, etc., with the use of a wince.
4. To kick or flounce when unsteady or impatient.

   A horse winces.

• cringe