twinges

Noun

twinge (plural twinges)

1. A sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, especially one lasting for a short time.
   • I got a twinge in my arm.
2. (also, figuratively, rare) A turn, a twist.
   • "Easy!" exclaimed Arthur, a half-contemptuous twinge in his lip, and added: "I take it that the simple question with me is, what is right, and what is best."1860, J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, “Hucklebury Run and its Enterprising Proprietor”, in Miss Gilbert’s Career: An American Story, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner, […]; London: Sampson Law, Son & Co....
3. (figuratively) A sudden, sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of guilt or sadness; a pang, a paroxysm, a throe; also, a prick of the conscience.
   • a twinge of embarrassment
4. (figuratively) A sudden, sharp occurrence of something; a nip.
5. (UK, dialectal) Synonym of earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”).

   Synonyms:

   earwig

6. (obsolete) An act of pulling and twisting; a pinch, a tweak, a twitch.
   • [T]he ſpirite of Jeſus hath (as it were) nipped my herte alſo with a litell twynge, […]1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The Prologue.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First...

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