ache

[eyk] /eɪk/
verb (used without object), ached, aching.
1.
to have or suffer a continuous, dull pain:
His whole body ached.
2.
to feel great sympathy, pity, or the like:
Her heart ached for the starving animals.
3.
to feel eager; yearn; long:
She ached to be the champion. He's just aching to get even.
noun
4.
a continuous, dull pain (in contrast to a sharp, sudden, or sporadic pain).
Origin
before 900; (v.) Middle English aken, Old English acan; perhaps metaphoric use of earlier unattested sense “drive, impel” (compare Old Norse aka, cognate with Latin agere, Greek ágein); (noun) derivative of the v.
Synonyms
1. hurt. 4. See pain.
Examples from the web for ache
  • He wants to teach them a lesson, and the dull ache in his gums is the proof that they are learning.
  • Stiff and sore with an ache of remembering that was really a kind of longing, he worked with them until they left the church.
  • They narrate their day-to-day activities for all to hear--every ache and pain or coming and going.
  • The gnawing ache sent him to the mirror to look for a possible source.
  • Anyone who has been on the market knows the ache of constant rejection.
  • Midway through the fourth round my lungs begin to ache.
  • Aging is not for the squeamish: skin sags, joints ache and hearing might start to go.
  • Established truths are comforting, but it is the mysteries that make the soul ache and render a life of exploration worth living.
  • Parts of your body ache that you don't even know the names of, and your eyes forget how to focus.
  • Will all the loss of money at stake due to budget cuts, this makes my stomach ache.
British Dictionary definitions for ache

ache

/eɪk/
verb (intransitive)
1.
to feel, suffer, or be the source of a continuous dull pain
2.
to suffer mental anguish
noun
3.
a continuous dull pain
Derived Forms
aching, adjective
achingly, adverb
Word Origin
Old English ācan (vb), æce (n), Middle English aken (vb), ache (n). Compare bake, batch
Word Origin and History for ache
v.

Old English acan "to ache, suffer pain," from Proto-Germanic *akanan, perhaps from a PIE root *ag-es- "fault, guilt," represented also in Sanskrit and Greek, perhaps imitative of groaning. The verb was pronounced "ake," the noun "ache" (as in speak/speech) but while the noun changed pronunciation to conform to the verb, the spelling of both was changed to ache c.1700 on a false assumption of a Greek origin (specifically Greek akhos "pain, distress," which is rather a distant relation of awe (n.)). Related: Ached; aching.

n.

early 15c., æche, from Old English æce, from Proto-Germanic *akiz, from same source as ache (v.).

ache in Medicine

ache (āk)
n.
A dull persistent pain. v. ached, ach·ing, aches
To suffer a dull, sustained pain.

Related Abbreviations for ache

ACHE

  1. American College of Healthcare Executives
  2. American Council for Headache Education