CRINGE

flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail

(verb) draw back, as with fear or pain; “she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf”

fawn, crawl, creep, cringe, cower, grovel

(verb) show submission or fear

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

cringe (countable and uncountable, plural cringes)

A posture or gesture of shrinking or recoiling.

(dated) A servile obeisance.

(dialect) A crick.

(uncountable, slang) An embarrassing event or situation which causes an onlooker to cringe.

(uncountable, slang) Someone or something that is cringy.

Verb

cringe (third-person singular simple present cringes, present participle cringing, simple past and past participle cringed)

(intransitive) To shrink, cower, tense or recoil, as in fear, disgust or embarrassment.

(dated, intransitive) To bow or crouch in servility.

(transitive, obsolete) To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort.

Anagrams

• cering, genric, rec'ing

Source: Wiktionary

Cringe (krnj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crnged (krnjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cringing.] Etym: [As. crincgang, cringan, crincan, to jield, fall; akin to E. crank.]

Definition: To draw one's self together as in fear or servility; to bend or crouch with base humility; to wince; hence; to make court in a degrading manner; to fawn. When they were come up to the place where the lions were, the boys that went before were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the lions. Bunyan. Sly hypocrite, . . . who more than thou Once fawned and cringed, and servilely adored Heaven's awful monarch Milton. Flatterers . . . are always bowing and cringing. Arbuthnot.

Cringe, v. t.

Definition: To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort. [Obs.] Till like a boy you see him cringe his face, And whine aloud for mercy. Shak.

Cringe, n.

Definition: Servile civility; fawning; a shrinking or bowing, as in fear or servility. "With cringe and shrug, and bow obsequious." Cowper.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition