cringe
verb
[ krɪn(d)ʒ ]
• bend one's head and body in fear or apprehension or in a servile manner.
• "he cringed away from the blow"
Similar:
cower,
shrink,
draw back,
pull back,
recoil,
start,
shy (away),
wince,
flinch,
blench,
blanch,
dodge,
duck,
crouch,
shudder,
shake,
tremble,
quiver,
quail,
quake,
get cold feet,
kowtow,
bow and scrape,
grovel,
creep,
crawl,
toady,
fawn,
truckle,
be servile towards,
be sycophantic towards,
dance attendance on,
ingratiate oneself with,
curry favour with,
flatter,
woo,
pay court to,
get round,
suck up to,
make up to,
lick someone's boots,
be all over,
fall all over,
sweet-talk,
soft-soap,
brown-nose,
blandish,
cringe
noun
• an act of cringing.
Origin:
Middle English crenge, crenche, related to Old English cringan, crincan ‘bend, yield, fall in battle’, of Germanic origin and related to Dutch krengen ‘heel over’ and German krank ‘sick’, also to crank1.
