Twinge, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Twinged; p. pr. & vb. n. Twinging.]
Etymology: [OE. twengen, AS. twengan; akin to OE. twingen to pain, afflict, OFries. thwinga, twinga, dwinga, to constrain, D. dwingen, OS. thwingan, G. zwingen, OHG. dwingan, thwingan, to press, oppress, overcome, Icel. þvinga, Sw. tvinga to subdue, constrain, Dan. twinge, and AS. þün to press, OHG. duhen, and probably to E. thong. Perhaps influenced by twitch. Cf. Thong.]
1. To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak. When a man is past his sense, There's no way to reduce him thence, But twinging him by the ears or nose, Or laying on of heavy blows. Hudibras.
2. To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains. The gnat . . . twinged him [the lion] till he made him tear himself, and so mastered him. L'Estrange.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Twinge, v. i.
To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.
Twinge, n.
1. A pinch; a tweak; a twitch. A master that gives you . . . twinges by the ears. L' Estrange.
2. A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the arm or side. " A twinge for my own sin." Dryden.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for twinge; he lists it under pain.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.