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pang

noun
/ˈpæŋ//ˈpeɪ̯ŋ/CA

Etymology

The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is possibly derived from Middle English *pange, perhaps an altered form of prange, prōnge (“affliction, agony, pain; pointed instrument”) as in prongys of deth (“pangs of death, death throes”), from Anglo-Latin pronga, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected with Middle Dutch prange, pranghe (“instrument for pinching”) (modern Dutch prang (“horse restraint; fetter, neck iron”)), Middle Low German prange (“pole, stake; (possibly) kind of pillory or stocks”), Old English pyngan (“to prick”). The word may thus be related to prong. The verb is derived from the noun.

  1. derived from បាង
  2. borrowed from 馮
  3. borrowed from 彭
  4. borrowed from 龐

Definitions

  1. A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish

    A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.

    • War[wick]. See how the pangs of death do make him grin. / Sal[isbury]. Diſturbe him not, let him paſſe peaceably.
    • But, oh! what pangs torment the deſtin’d heart, / That feels the wound, yet dare not ſhow the dart; / What eaſe could Ovid to his ſorrows give, / Who muſt not ſpeak, and therefore cannot live?

  2. A sudden sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of joy or sorrow.

    • He was startled with a piece of information which gave him such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual quiet of his demeanor.
    • Unfortunately, in the hurry of leaving home, he had forgotten to provide himself with food, and at lunch time found himself attacked by the pangs of hunger.

  3. To cause to have great pain or suffering

    To cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment, to torture.

    • Yet if that quarrell, Fortune, to diuorce / It from the bearer, 'tis a ſufferance, panging / As ſoule and bodies ſeuering.
    • And perhaps a not altogether false little story could be written about a man who never visited those most dear to him, because it panged him so to say good-bye when he had to leave.
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. simple past of ping

    2. A surname from Chinese.

    3. A surname from Khmer.

    4. A minor river in Berkshire, England, which flows into the Thames at Pangbourne.

The neighborhood

Derived

birth pang, birth pangs, breast pang, hunger pang, hunger pangs, pangful, pangless, pang of conscience

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for pang. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA