wryneck

American  

[rahy-nek] / ˈraɪˌnɛk /

noun

1. Informal.

   1. torticollis.

   2. a person having torticollis.

2. any of several small Old World climbing birds of the subfamily Jynginae, of the woodpecker family, noted for the peculiar habit of twisting the head and neck.

---

wryneck British  

/ ˈraɪˌnɛk /

noun

1. either of two cryptically coloured Old World woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis, which do not drum on trees

2. another name for torticollis

3. informal a person who has a twisted neck

---

Etymology

Origin of wryneck

First recorded in 1575–85; wry + neck

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wryneck

A particularly unsettling development has the sister cities of St. Pete and Tampa at each other's wryneck throats.

From Time Magazine Archive

Snake′-bird, a darter: the wryneck; Snake′-eel, a long Mediterranean eel, its tail without a tail-fin.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

"Aye, that I will—that I will: but my head is considering of affairs," answered Master Short—he of the wryneck.

From The Splendid Spur by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

Pied and golden-backed woodpeckers, companies of nuthatches, and, here and there, a wryneck move about on the trunks and branches, looking into every cranny for insects.

From A Bird Calendar for Northern India by Dewar, Douglas

As love goddesses were "Fates", however, the wryneck may have been connected with the belief that the perpetrator of a murder, or a death spell, could be detected when he approached his victim's corpse.

From Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by Mackenzie, Donald Alexander