intransitive verb.
To start or wince involuntarily, as from surprise or pain.
intransitive verb.
To recoil, as from something unpleasant or difficult; shrink.
noun.
An act or instance of starting, wincing, or recoiling.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Same as flense.
To give way to fear or to a sense of pain; shrink back from anything painful or dangerous; manifest a feeling or a fear of suffering or injury of any kind; draw back from any act or undertaking through dread of consequences; shrink; wince: as, the pain was severe, but he did not flinch.
In croquet, to allow the foot to slip from the ball in the act of croqueting.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
The act of flinching.
intransitive verb.
To withdraw from any suffering or undertaking, from pain or danger; to fail in doing or perserving; to show signs of yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince.
intransitive verb.
To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.