LekhoriLekhoriTo cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
I'm cringing watching this easily Blizzard- or Square Enix-worthy new trailer for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online. Not because it's bad — it's a deftly rendered slice of CGI. But it must have cost a fortune. It makes me want to say "Spend the money on knocking the game out of the park, please, not the frippery, Bethesda." But oh what frippery.
To bow or crouch in servility.
[I]f they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reaſon of their carriage, becauſe they cannot ride a horſe, which euery Clowne can doe; ſalute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common ſwaſher can doe, [...]
A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).
He glanced with a cringe at the mess on his desk.
An act or disposition of servile obeisance.
A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).
Stated in response to something cringeworthy.
The verb is derived from Middle English crengen (“to bend in a haughty manner; to condescend”) [and other forms], from Old English *crenċan, *crenċġan, *crenġan (“to cause to fall or turn”), the causa...
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