Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To shrink or start involuntarily, as in pain or distress; flinch.
  • noun A shrinking or startled movement or gesture.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of one who winces; an involuntary shrinking movement or tendency; a slight start back or aside, as from pain or to avoid pain.
  • To shrink, as in pain or from a blow; start back: literally or figuratively.
  • To kick.
  • To wriggle; twist and turn.
  • To fling by starting or kicking.
  • In dyeing, to immerse in the bath by turning the wince or winch.
  • noun In dyeing, a simple hand-machine for changing a fabric from one dye-vat to another.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To shrink, as from a blow, or from pain; to flinch; to start back.
  • intransitive verb To kick or flounce when unsteady, or impatient at a rider.
  • noun The act of one who winces.
  • noun (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.
  • noun a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.
  • noun 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.
  • verb intransitive To flinch as if in pain or distress.
  • verb transitive To wash (cloth), dip it in dye, etc., with the use of a wince.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the facial expression of sudden pain
  • noun a reflex response to sudden pain
  • verb make a face indicating disgust or dislike
  • verb draw back, as with fear or pain

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English wincen, to kick, from Old North French *wencier, variant of Old French guencir, of Germanic origin.]

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