Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having a wry or distorted neck.
- [By some this is understood as an allusion to the bend of the fifer's neck while playing upon his instrument; by others (less probably) to an old form of the flute, called the fluteà-bec, having a curved mouthpiece like the beak of a bird at one side.]
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Having a distorted neck; having the deformity called
wryneck{1} .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having a distorted
neck ; having thedeformity calledwryneck .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
wry + necked
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Examples
-
In numbers they were six or eight, led by a small, wrynecked man that held a long staff, and wore a gilt chain over his furr'd collar.
The Splendid Spur Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903
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Beside him stands Father Coffey, chaplain, toadbellied, wrynecked, in a surplice and bandanna nightcap, holding sleepily a staff twisted poppies.) _
Ulysses James Joyce 1911
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