flinch1

[flinch] /flɪntʃ/
verb (used without object)
1.
to draw back or shrink, as from what is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant.
2.
to shrink under pain; wince.
3.
Croquet. to let the foot slip from the ball in the act of croqueting.
verb (used with object)
4.
to draw back or withdraw from.
noun
5.
an act of flinching.
Origin
1555-65; perhaps nasalized variant of dial. flitch to flit, shift one's position
Related forms
flincher, noun
flinchingly, adverb
Synonyms
1. recoil, withdraw, blench.

flinch2

[flinch] /flɪntʃ/
verb (used with object)
1.
flense.
Examples from the web for flinch
  • He would, for instance, mark that a monkey had turned its head when the monkey didn't so much as flinch.
  • But her judgments are so sweeping and harsh that the fair-minded reader may flinch a bit.
  • Yet when the time of testing came for him and his contemporaries, they did not flinch.
  • They retain their native intelligence and when guided towards an obvious threat or a difficult obstacle, they flinch and recoil.
  • Though this column strives mightily to preserve its nonpartisan approach, it cannot flinch from etymological controversy.
  • His memories of the siege cause him to flinch at loud sounds and leave him terrified of low-flying planes.
  • The movie doesn't flinch from portraying the resulting emotional tumult.
  • We lean in for a grounder, then flinch on a short hop.
  • He pulled out a revolver and blasted three shots in the air, but the horse did not flinch.
  • Laughing is not an instinctive physical response to humor, the way a flinch is a response to pain or a shiver to cold.
British Dictionary definitions for flinch

flense

/flɛns/
verb
1.
(transitive) to strip (a whale, seal, etc) of (its blubber or skin)
Derived Forms
flenser, flencher, flincher, noun
Word Origin
C19: from Danish flense; related to Dutch flensen

flinch1

/flɪntʃ/
verb (intransitive)
1.
to draw back suddenly, as from pain, shock, etc; wince: he flinched as the cold water struck him
2.
(often foll by from) to avoid contact (with); shy away: he never flinched from his duty
noun
3.
the act or an instance of drawing back
4.
a card game in which players build sequences
Derived Forms
flincher, noun
flinchingly, adverb
Word Origin
C16: from Old French flenchir; related to Middle High German lenken to bend, direct

flinch2

/flɪntʃ/
verb
1.
a variant of flense
Word Origin and History for flinch
v.

1570s, from obsolete flecche "to bend, flinch," probably from Old French flenchir "to bend," probably from Frankish *hlankjan or some other Germanic source (cf. Middle High German linken, German lenken "to bend, turn, lead"), from PIE root *kleng- "to bend, turn" (see link (n.)). Related: Flinched; flinching. As a noun, from 1817.