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Concise Oxford English Dictionary
cringe
krɪn(d)ʒ
■ verb (cringes, cringing, cringed)
bend one’s head and body in fear or apprehension or in a servile manner.
experience an inward shiver of embarrassment or disgust.
■ noun an act of cringing.

cringer noun

ME crenge, crenche, related to OE cringan, crincan ‘bend, yield, fall in battle’, of Gmc origin and related to crank1.
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Concise Oxford Thesaurus
cringe
▶ verb
she cringed as he bellowed in her ear: COWER, shrink, recoil, shy away, flinch, blench, draw back; shake, tremble, quiver, quail, quake.
it makes me cringe when I think of it: WINCE, shudder, squirm, feel embarrassed/mortified.
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Merriam-Webster Collegiate® Dictionary
1cringe
Pronunciation: ‘krinj
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form: cringed ; cring·ing
Etymology: Middle English crengen; akin to Old English cringan to yield, Middle High German krank weak
Date: 13th century

1 : to draw in or contract one’s muscles involuntarily (as from cold or pain)
2 : to shrink in fear or servility
3 : to behave in an excessively humble or servile way
4 : to recoil in distaste
synonyms see FAWN
–cring·er noun
2cringe
Function: noun
Date: 1597

: a cringing act specifically : a servile bow