wince

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To shrink or start involuntarily, as in pain or distress; flinch.
• noun A shrinking or startled movement or gesture.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of one who winces; an involuntary shrinking movement or tendency; a slight start back or aside, as from pain or to avoid pain.
• To shrink, as in pain or from a blow; start back: literally or figuratively.
• To kick.
• To wriggle; twist and turn.
• To fling by starting or kicking.
• In dyeing, to immerse in the bath by turning the wince or winch.
• noun In dyeing, a simple hand-machine for changing a fabric from one dye-vat to another.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To shrink, as from a blow, or from pain; to flinch; to start back.
• intransitive verb To kick or flounce when unsteady, or impatient at a rider.
• noun The act of one who winces.
• noun (Dyeing & Calico Printing) A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment. at will.
• noun a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.
• noun A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment at will.
• verb intransitive To flinch as if in pain or distress.
• verb transitive To wash (cloth), dip it in dye, etc., with the use of a wince.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the facial expression of sudden pain
• noun a reflex response to sudden pain
• verb make a face indicating disgust or dislike
• verb draw back, as with fear or pain